In this collection, international social science experts on Cuba examine the island's main challenges and strengths at the dawn of the 21st century. Their essays offer a picture of a nation recovering from a period of severe economic adversity and diminished social status, yet keenly aware that hard work lies ahead. Exploring issues in relation to all aspects of society, this book brings together research from the entire decade since the end of the Cold War and includes the views of official insiders as well as academic ...
Read More
In this collection, international social science experts on Cuba examine the island's main challenges and strengths at the dawn of the 21st century. Their essays offer a picture of a nation recovering from a period of severe economic adversity and diminished social status, yet keenly aware that hard work lies ahead. Exploring issues in relation to all aspects of society, this book brings together research from the entire decade since the end of the Cold War and includes the views of official insiders as well as academic scholars. The authors address topics that range from problems of everyday life to matters of general social and cultural change. Though still in distress, Cuba today has left behind the worst years, they conclude. Havana is moving forward through a complex renewal process, remaking some of the dated features of its political, economic, and social system. The book examines such critical subjects as migration, the rebirth of religious institutions, women and gender issues, demographic trends, the changing role of the Cuban Communist Party, social and cultural changes under the current Special Period in Peacetime, and newly adopted policies and objectives in international relations and economic recovery policies. It also addresses the military, presidential succession, new electioneering modalities, and the National Assembly of People's Power. It explores new approaches to foreign policy in light of the island's major long-term struggles--a driving desire for economic and political change and the ongoing conflict with hostile U.S. administrations. Demonstrating how a determined nation can chart its own destiny, this work clarifies and corrects generally held but mistaken assumptions about the tropical island. Both sympathetic and balanced, it offers an informed approach to understanding the complexities of contemporary Cuba. It will be invaluable both to policy makers and to students of Cuban and Latin American affairs.
Read Less