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| Cuban fabric store - not much to sell |
The chapter on Cuba is an online supplement to the paper published edition of Kesselman (et al) Introduction to Comparative Politics. In that paper edition, Kesselman includes all the usual suspects for a comparative politics text. The European Giants, Japan, China, Mexico they are all there. The fourth part of the text, ‘Non-Democracies’ is notably thin. It included only Iran and China and hence omits the surviving examples of Marxism-Leninism - arguably the most important ideology of the 20th Century.
Now, it is true that there are precious few of those ‘dinosaurs’ left. In fact, I think you could make the case that Cuba is the only surviving example. A factor that I think elevates Cuba's importance in the study of comparative politics. “What about China?” you might ask. Well, I don't think it fits the category anymore. The economic system is simply is no longer communist. China is a post Marxist-Leninist society.
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| China |
This is a point that the author, Marifela Perez-Stable, makes repeatedly in her analysis of Cuba. About 30 years ago, with the collapse of communism in Europe, the surviving regimes were at a crossroads. China embarked on a relatively radical program of economic reform which has completely transformed the country. Cuba, or perhaps more accurately the Castro's, stubbornly avoided those changes - determined to keep capitalism at bay and make Socialism work.
Castro is convinced that his is the right path. On a 2003 visit to China, Fidel expressed his dismay: “I am not sure what kind of China I am visiting.” China today is a place very different from what is found in Cuba. Is it a model for a post Castro regime? That is the big question in Cuban studies: what comes next? This chapter does a good job of preparing students to do what everyone else is doing. Make a wild guess…
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