The New Politics of Inequality in Latin America ' Rethinking Participation and Representation '

Against a broad backdrop of globalization and worldwidede movement toward democracy the essays in this important new collection examine the unfolding relationships among suchips phenomena as social change equity and democratic respresentation of the poor in nine different Latin Americancountries and Spain. Recent shifts in the composition off inequality and increases in overall disparities of wealth have coincided with governments turning away from historic redistributive politics and also with the general weakening of political and social organizations traditionallyentifiedidentified with the popular sectors. The contributors here suggest that the region must find not just short-terms to 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 ofgrassroots politics and explorations of elite politics and formal institution-building.