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

Douglas A. Chalmers is Professor of Political Science at Columbia University and Acting Dean of its School of International and Public Affairs. Chalmers has written several articles on political institutions and the state in Latin America, and he is co-editor (with Maria do Campello de Souza and Atilio Borón) of The Right and Democracy in Latin America (1992). He received his Ph.D. from Yale University. Chalmerss recent research has focused ontransnational linkages and on Mexico, where he taught at El Colegio de Mexico and where he led a team of researchers investigating the role of non-governmental organizations in that country.

Carlos M. Vilas is Research Professor at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico. He is the author of numerous articles and books, including State, Class and Ethnicity in Nicaragua (1989) and Between Earthquakes and Volcanoes: Market, States and the Central American Revolutions (1995). His current research focuses on the on-going restructuring of state/market/civil society relations in Latin America and its impact on processes of
democratization.

Against a broad backdrop of globalization and worldwide movement toward democracy, the essays in this important new collection examine the unfolding relationships among such phenomena as social change, equity, and democratic representation of the poor in nine different Latin American countries and Spain. Recent shifts in the composition of 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 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.

Introduction ; 1. Participation, Inequality, and the Whereabouts of Democracy ; SECTION I: TRADITIONAL ACTORS, NEW SETTINGS ; 2. Beyond Corporatism: New Patterns of Representation in the Brazilian Auto Industry ; 3. Union Politics, Market-Orientated Reforms and the Reshaping of Argentine Corporatism ; 4. The Crisis of Developmentalism and the Rural Labor Movement in Northeast Brazil ; SECTION II: SEARCHING FOR NEW FORMS OF PARTICIPATION ; 5. The Rise of Causa R in Venezuela ; 6. The Seven-Month Itch?: Neoliberal Politics, Popular Movements, and the Left in Mexico ; 7. The Politics of Identity Reconstruction: Indians and Democracy in Ecuador ; 8. The Evolution of the Brazilian Environmental Movement and Its Political Roles ; 9. The Authoritarian Alternative: Anti-Politics Among the Popular Sectors of Lima ; SECTION III: THE STUBBORNNESS OF VIOLENCE ; 10. The Quetzal is Red: Military States, Popular Movements, and Political Violence in Guatemala ; 11. Popular Responses to State-Sponsored Violence in Brazil ; 12. Political Violence and the Grassroots in Lima, Peru ; SECTION IV: DILEMMAS OF A SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC PROJECT ; 13. Rethinking Economic Alternatives: Left Parties and the Articulation of Popular Demands in Chile and Peru ; 14. Market-Orientated Development Strategies and State-Society Relations in New Democracies: Lessons from Contemporary Chile and Spain ; 15. Putting Conservatism to Good Use?: Long Crisis and Vetoed Alternatives in Uruguay ; SECTION V: RECONSTRUCTING REPRESENTATION ; 16. The Difficult Transition from Clientelism to Citizenship: Lessons from Mexico ; 17. Reconstructing the Workers Party (PT): Lessons from Northeastern Brazil ; 18. Can a Leftist Government Make a Difference?: The Frente Amplio Administration of Montevideo, 1990-1994 ; 19. Targeting the Poor: The Politics of Social Policy Reforms in Mexico ; 20. Redefining the Public/Private Mix: NGOs and the Emergency Social Investment Fund in Ecuador ; 21. Regional Integration and Transnational Politics: Popular Sector Strategies in the NAFTA Era ; CONCLUSION ; 22. Associative Networks: New Structures of Representation for the Popular Sectors? ; Contributors List ; Bibliography