This paper offers an advance of the research project on the politics of inequality in Latin America. Its main focus is on the so called “New Left” governments in the South America region, and compares them with their more "orthodox" partners in the Andean and Mesoamerica region. The paper identified the factors (variables) relevant to explain the different paths and different outcomes in the social and welfare policies; global linkages and economic strategies, party competition and electoral competition, and social policies and citizenship
