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 American countries 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 traditionallyentified identified 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 of grassroots politics and explorations of elite politics and formal institution-building.