  We analyze the presence of inhomogeneous phases in the QCD phase diagram
within the framework of nonlocal chiral quark models. We concentrate in
particular in the positions of the tricritical (TCP) and Lifshitz (LP) points,
which are studied in a general context using a generalized Ginzburg-Landau
approach. We find that for all the phenomenologically acceptable model
parametrizations considered the TCP is located at a higher temperature and a
lower chemical potential in comparison with the LP. Consequently, these models
seem to favor a scenario in which the onset of the first order transition
between homogeneous phases is not covered by an inhomogeneous, energetically
favored phase.

High Energy Physics - Phenomenology