Description: Against a broader backdrop of globalization and worldwide moves toward political democracy, the essays in this important new collection examine the unfolding relationships among social change, equity, and the democratic respresentation of the poor within nine Latin American countries and Spain. Recent shifts in the composition of inequality and increases in overall disparities of wealth have coincided both with governments turning away from historic redistributive politics, and a general weakening of political and social organizations traditionally identified with the "popular sectors". The contributors here suggest that the region must find not just short-term programs to alleviate poverty but long-term means to ensure the effective integration of the poor into political life. The book bridges the intellectual gap between studies of grassroots politics and explorations of elite politics and formal institution-building.

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