Indigenous people in Latin America have mobilized in unprecedented ways - demanding recognition, equal protection, and subnational autonomy. These are remarkable developments in a region where ethnic cleavages were once universally described as weak. Recently, however, indigenous activists and elected officials have increasingly shaped national political deliberations. Deborah Yashar explains the contemporary and uneven emergence of Latin American indigenous movements - addressing both why indigenous identities have become politically salient in the contemporary period and why they have translated into significant political organizations in some places and not others. She argues that ethnic politics can best be explained through a comparative historical approach that analyzes three factors: changing citizenship regimes, social networks, and political associational space. Her argument provides insight into the fragility and unevenness of Latin America's third wave democracies and has broader implications for the ways in which we theorize the relationship between citizenship, states, identity, and social action.

'… a rigorous theoretical framework to a study of democratic issues related to ethnic movements … the book … will inspire students in international relations, political science, indigenous studies and sociology of development.'

Source: Political Studies Review

'Deborah Yashar has processed and put together in a coherent framework an enormous amount of data provided by documents, interviews and secondary literature. … the book has made an outstanding contribution in clarifying not only the conditions of possibility and development, but also the deep meaning of indigenous struggles …'

Source: Nations and Nationalism