Lexington Books Puerto Rican Identity, Political Development, and Democracy in New York, 1960-1990

Using Puerto Rican politics in New York City as a case study, particularly focusing on political elites, Puerto Rican Identity, Political Development, and Democracy in New York, 1960-1990 argues that ethnic identity is a positive force in political development. José E. Cruz suggests that in using ethnic identity to claim and exercise social and civil rights, to pursue representation, and to access resources and benefits, Puerto Ricans sustained and enriched liberal democracy in New York City. This book shows how in carrying out politics in this way, Puerto Rican political elites placed themselves out of the margins and into the mainstream of city politics as significant contributors to urban democracy. Review A nuanced and compelling landmark study that synthesizes and brings a much-welcome degree of clarity and critical insight to three decades of political history and civic engagement by Puerto Ricans in New York. Viewing Puerto Rican political activity as anchored in the realities and conditions of their respective US communities, José Cruz effectively documents and validates Puerto Rican reliance on ethnic identity and the liberal democratic process in seeking to expand their participation and representation in the U.S. political system at the municipal, state, and national levels.--Edna Acosta-Belén, University at Albany, SUNY Dr. José E. Cruz has taken, head on, a controversial subject in attempting to better interpret Puerto Rican political history and its evolution from a uniquely diasporic perspective. The narrative represents a major advance in how we conceptualize and understand U.S. Puerto Rican politics in particular and ethnic politics in general. It creates a high standard by which future work in this area will be measured.--Carlos E. Santiago, Massachusetts Commissioner of Higher Education In this provocative, thoughtful book, José Cruz challenges narratives which foreground the Puerto Rican community's radical and leftist politics, embed the stateside experience in a transnational and colonialist framework, or minimize Puerto Rican engagement with electoral politics, urban policy, and governance. Cruz's revealing, well-documented story is an important new source for all readers who care about the political history of the nation's second-largest Latino community.--Tony Affigne, Providence College About the Author José E. Cruz is associate professor of political science and Latino studies at the University at Albany, State University of New York.