This study examines people's involvement in politics. Seven social anthropologists explore large-scale and complex political processes through the prism of detailed fieldwork in India, Cuba, Ethiopia, Taiwan and Lebanon.

The articles in the book focus on three particular approaches: 1. That ordinary people must be recognised as political actors but that their actions are structured by the specific histories and contexts within which they live. 2. That micro events are integral parts of macro phenomena and vice versa, and that they are usually designated by asymmetrical relationships. 3.That human life is the result of innumerable interactions engendering change, but that even continuity is actively created. This book is important for researchers and students in anthropology, political science, history, sociology and development studies who have a theoretical as well as ethnographic interest in comparative politics.

Acknowledgements 1. Introduction: People, Power and Public Spaces Eva Poluha and Mona Rosendahl 2. From Avoidance to Alliance: Hunter-Gatherers, Non-Governmental Organisations and State Relation in Tamil Nadu, South India christer Norstrom 3. Sounds of Silence: Uncertainty, Language and Politics in the Cuban Economic Crisis Mona Rosendahl 4. Learning Political Behaviour: Peasant-State Relations in Ethiopia Eva Poluha 5. In Touch with Politics: Three Individuals in the Midst of the Dalit Movement Eva-Maria Hardtmann 6. The Republic of China at a Crossroads? Processes of Democracy and Ethnic Identity on the Island of Taiwan Alexander Wanek 7. The Illicit Daughter: Hindi-Language Newspapers and the Regionalisation of the Public Sphere in India Per Sthalberg 8. Public Space Inside Out: Beirut's Private and Public Spaces Under Reconstruction Daniel Genberg Index