This book investigates how individual actors navigate complex policy environments to successfully establish and implement new institutional frameworks. Authors Rebecca Neaera Abers and Margaret E. Keck utilize their expertise in Latin American politics to examine the mechanisms of institutional change. By focusing on the intersection of legislative design and the practical labor of organizational creation, they argue that agency is a critical, often overlooked component of political reform.

Experts in the field of public policy and Latin American studies recognize this work as a significant contribution to the understanding of institutional agency. Scholars frequently cite the text for its detailed focus on the practical, often invisible labor required to translate policy into functional governance.