Believing that "the struggles for socialism and democracy are inextricably mixed," the authors issue a rather ambitious call for "a new framework for politics." They argue that the transition from authoritarian to democratic rule is blocked by various built-in constraints such as military and corporate interests, external debt and the distribution of wealth and property. The first part contains four chapters on development perspectives, and the second is devoted to U.S.-Latin American relations, with stress on the global context.