The Emergence of Middle Eastern Studies in Costa Rica: The Palestinian–Israeli Conflict and Other Middle Eastern Crises through the Perspective of Roberto Marín Guzmán

Abstract

This article examines Roberto Marín Guzmán’s contribution to the development of Middle Eastern studies in Costa Rica between the 1980s and the early twenty-first century. It analyzes his major publications on the Palestinian–Israeli conflict, the Lebanese Civil War, and the contemporary history of the region. The article identifies a break with previous Costa Rican scholarship, which focused primarily on the State of Israel. Marín expanded the field through the study of Islamic societies, the systematic use of primary sources in Arabic, English, and French, and a historical and geopolitical interpretation of regional conflicts. The analysis addresses his interpretations of Costa Rica's embassy relocation to Jerusalem, the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, and the Lebanese Civil War. It also reconstructs the evolution of his scholarship and the way he combined history, international relations, and geopolitics to explain Middle Eastern political processes. These innovations reshaped the study of the region in Costa Rica, broadened research agendas, and encouraged new scholarship on foreign policy, history, and international studies. Marín’s work represents a turning point in the consolidation of Middle Eastern studies within Costa Rican academia.