Cuban Politics - The Revolutionary Experiment

The Cuban Revolution presents a mixed record of achievements and failures. In this comprehensive study of Cuban politics, Rhoda Rabkin examines the institutions, policies, and performance of revolutionary Cuba. The study, part of the Politics in Latin America Hoover Institution Series, concisely and thoroughly addresses the major issues debated by scholars concerning the Cuban revolutionary experience. These include: the development impasse of pre-revolutionary Cuba, rates of revolutionary socio-economic progress, elite factionalism, the role of the military, succession politics, respect for human rights, and the relevance of the Cuban model to other developing countries. Rabkin analyzes with particular care Cuban efforts to reconcile revolutionary leadership (including the special role of Fidel Castro) with popular participation in institutions of government and mass organizations. The study also analyzes in depth the likely implications of the Gorbachev era for Cuban socialism.

The meticulous inclusion of source references to the scholarly literature allows readers to pursue controversial issues in greater depth. In a field too often dominated by polemics, Rabkin provides her readers with an honest, objective synthesis of contemporary scholarship on the Cuban Revolution. Chapters cover: background to the revolution; communism Fidel-style (1959-1970); institutions and policy (1970-1986); the socialist economic system; Cuban foreign policy; the rectification period (1986 to the present); and a concluding assessment of the Cuban revolutionary socialist development model.

List of contents

Introduction: Objectivity and Paradigms
Genesis of the Castro Regime
Communism Fidel-Style: Leader and Society 1959-1970
Institutions and Policy 1970-1986
Socialism on a Sugar Island
The Foreign Policy of Cuba
The Rectified Revolution: Continuing Political Tension
Conlusions: The Costs of Revolution

About the author

RHODA P. RABKIN teaches U.S.-Latin American relations at Cornell University. Her writings on Cuban politics and inter-American relations have appeared in various anthologies and scholarly journals.

Product details

• Authors: Rhoda Rabkin
• Publisher: Bloomsbury
• Languages: English
• Age Recommendation: ages 7 to 17
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 20.11.1990
• EAN: 9780275937393
• ISBN: 978-0-275-93739-3
• No. of pages: 256
• Weight: 567 g
• Series: Politics in Latin America
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > Regional and national histories; POLITICAL SCIENCE / Political Ideologies / General, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Public Policy / General, Cuba, POLITICAL SCIENCE / World / Caribbean & Latin American, Revolutions, uprisings, rebellions, c 1960 to c 1970, Revolutionary groups & movements, c 1950 to c 1959, c 1970 to c 1979, c 1960 to c 1969, Socialism & left-of-centre democratic ideologies, Left-of-centre democratic ideologies, Central / national / federal government policies, c 1970 to c 1980, C 1980 To C 1990, c 1980 to c 1989, C 1945 To C 1960, Central government policies, Revolutionary groups and movements, HISTORY / Revolutions, Uprisings & Rebellions, Politics, Law, and Government: Comparative Politics