Salvador Martí i Puig – författare

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.

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.

Este libro tiene como objetivo señalar las reacciones institucionales y de los actores ante la pandemia de la COVID-19 en los países de América Latina, a sabiendas de que su impacto será de una relevancia semejante a la que desencadenó el crash de 1929, el fin de la Segunda Guerra Mundial, la crisis del petróleo de 1973 o la de la deuda de 1982. Es en este sentido que puede afirmarse que en 2020 se está creando una coyuntura crítica en tanto que genera una situación de incertidumbre en la que las decisiones de los actores políticos, sociales y económicos más relevantes de cada país son cruciales y decisivas para el desarrollo político e institucional a medio y largo plazo. De estas coyunturas suelen aparecer determinadas decisiones económicas, diferentes reagrupamientos sociales, nuevas coaliciones políticas y batallas de ideas que tienen posteriormente un impacto en el desarrollo de políticas e instituciones y, por ende, en la vida de las personas.