In 1948 Costa Rica did something almost no state has ever done voluntarily; it abolished its army. The money went into schools and hospitals instead, and the country now runs on almost entirely renewable electricity

But Costa Rica did exactly that. Costa Rica’s 1948 civil war was short and bloody, a 44-day conflict that killed roughly 2,000 people. What Costa Rica gave up was the permanent institution, not the right to defend itself. Costa Rica generates almost all of its electricity from renewable sources, mostly hydropower, backed by geothermal, wind, biomass, and solar. Costa Rica is not simply undefended: it maintains armed police and border services, and it belongs to the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance, a regional collective-security pact.