ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book presents the transition from military dictatorships to democratic political regimes that occurred in most Latin American countries at various times during the 1980s. It discusses the evolution of the international human rights network and assesses its impact on particular countries in various periods. The book explores a case study of one instance in which international factors promoted a transition of sorts; yet human rights abuses persist as a result of the capacity of the Guatemalan military to appropriate the discourse of democracy articulated by outside actors. It analyzes the construction of citizenship from below in order to illuminate the meaning of democracy as people experience it in everyday life. The book is concerned with the structural dimensions of rights and citizenship. It shows that the rights of indigenous peoples, individual rights may sometimes enter into conflict with collective rights.
