The myriad changes affecting contemporary Latin America in the context of a globalizing world are so far reaching, argue the authors of Latin America in the Twenty-First Century, that understanding them requires both new conceptual tools and multidisciplinary analysis. In response to this need, they explore developments in the region in terms of four central, distinct processes: the construction of political democracies, social democratization, the reinserting of Latin American economies in the world system, and the creation of a new model of modernity that encompasses both globalization and cultural identities. The authors construct a sociopolitical matrix to help explain Latin America's political, economic, social, and cultural changes in the context of a globalizing world.