It can come as no surprise that the ethnic makeup of the American population is rapidly changing. In this volume, John Francis Burke offers a "mestizo" theory of democracy and traces its implications for public policy.

Mestizo, meaning "mixture, " is a term from the Mexican socio-political experience. It represents a blend of indigenous, African, and Spanish genes and cultures in Latin America. This mixture is not a "melting pot" experience; rather, the influences of the different cultures remain identifiable but influence each other in dynamic ways.

Burke analyzes democratic theory and...