The Trouble with Unity

By Cristina Beltrán

Subjects: Politics and government, Power (Social sciences), Power (social sciences), Ethnic identity, Hispanic americans, politics and government, Hispanic Americans, Voting, Civil rights, Political participation

Description: Over the past decade, much attention has been given to examining the growing political influence of Latinos in the United States in order to define the so-called "Latino vote." The existence of a coherent, pan-ethnic Latino political agenda is, as *The Trouble with Unity* shows, not only highly debatable but democratically unviable. Situated at the intersection of political theory and Latino studies, the book is a nuanced critique of civic *Latinidad* and the Latino electoral and protest politics that work to erase diversity and debate in favor of images of commonality. Cristina Beltrán looks at key moments in U.S. Latino political history through the lens of political, feminist, and cultural thought to provide a theoretically driven account of the many ways in which Latinos lay claim to the public realm. In its innovative approach to the realities of Latino protest politics, *The Trouble with Unity* advances both social-movement and democratic political theory.