Willem Assies died in 2010 at the age of 55. The various stages of his career as a political anthropologist of Latin American illustrate how astute a researcher he was. He had a keen eye for the contradictions he observed during his fieldwork but also enjoyed theoretical debate. A distrust of power led him not only to attempt to understand "people without voice" but to work alongside them so they could discover and find their own voice. Willem Assies explored the messy, often untidy daily lives of people, with their inconsistencies, irrationalities, and passions, but also with their hopes, sense of beauty, solidarity, and quest for dignity. This collection brings together some of Willem Assies's best, most fascinating, and still highly relevant writings.

Democracy in Mexico. Attitudes and perceptions of citizens at national and local level, offers an important contribution to one of the more complex and multifaceted political processes of recent decades in Latin America: Mexico's democratisation at the national and subnational levels. The chapters - on topics including the quality of democracy, political participation and insecurity, amongst others - have been researched and written by a group of academics from the University of Salamanca and El Colegio de Mexico, with the support of the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation and Development (AECID) and the Mexican Council of Science and Technology (CONACYT). Importantly, the volume is based on two surveys carried out throughout Mexico in 2009 and in 2011. The result of this period of collaboration is one of the few existing studies on democratic processes in the Mexican states, which we hope will provoke an important debate within the academic community.

Central America constitutes a fascinating case study of the challenges, opportunities and characteristics of the process of transformation in today's global economy. Comprised of a politically diverse range of societies, this region has long been of interest to students of economic development and political change. This title aims to describe and explain the manifold processes that are taking place in Central America that are altering patterns of social, political and economic governance, with particular focus on the impact of globalization and democratization. Containing sections on topics such as state and democracy, key political and social actors, inequality and social policy and international relations, in addition to in-depth studies on five key countries (Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala), this text is composed of contributions from some of the leading scholars in the field. No other single volume studies the current characteristics of the region from a political, economic and social perspective or reviews recent research in such detail. As such, this handbook is of value to academics, students and researchers as well as to policy-makers and those with an interest in governance and political processes.