Civil Party (Costa Rica)

The Civil Party (Spanish: Partido Civil) was a Costa Rican political party active between 1893 and 1917. Closely associated with the leadership of Rafael Iglesias Castro, the party played a central role in national politics during the 1890s, governing the country through his presidency from 1894 to 1902 and shaping state policy during a period of political consolidation.

Personalist in character, the Civil Party promoted a broadly liberal political orientation that emphasized state authority, economic modernization, the combat of vagrancy and vice, and limits on clerical political influence, while lacking a fixed ideological platform. Although it declined after Iglesias’s departure from office and failed electoral attempts in the early 20th century, civilismo remained influential in Costa Rican political culture until the death of Iglesias in 1924.