Nicaragua, the second poorest country in Latin America, has experienced two extreme political experiments over the past 25 years: a socialist revolution followed by radical market liberalism. According to common indicators for international comparisons of development levels, Nicaragua is far from crossing the threshold into a developmental stage. On the contrary, even compared to its Central American neighbors, which had comparable starting conditions and development levels until the late 1970s, Nicaragua has fallen further behind to this day. What path is Nicaragua on today—five years after Ortega and the FSLN took office? How sustainable and future-oriented are the political and social structures? How strong are the tendencies to revert to an authoritarian and autocratic past? The book provides insights into the political processes.