A Peaceful Coexistence: Cuba, Capitalism, and Democracy
Date
2001
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Haverford College. Department of Political Science
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Thesis
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Award
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eng
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Haverford users only
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Abstract
Placing the words Cuba, capitalism, and democracy in the same sentence initially appears an exercise in removing the word that does not belong--Cuba. However, a closer analysis of Cuban history and the theory linking capitalism and democracy suggests that all three words can enjoy a peaceful coexistence. Since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1989, Cuba has enjoyed a limited capitalist opening that has roused ever-increasing pressures for a democratic opening and an end to Fidel Castro's forty-year reign. The weight of history combines with the weight of theory to point almost definitively to the prospects for favorable democratic development in the future of the island nation. While many scholars have weighed in with predictions for the future of Cuban society in the wake of the Cold War, many predictions are largely uninformed by history or even a fraction of the myriad of theories existing on capitalism and democratic transitions. Even for those prognosticators who pay attention to theory and history, most concentrate only on the past century of the island's future. An expanded perspective provides supplementary evidence for the legacies of authoritarianism, dependency and exploitation in Cuban society to pair with the repressive nature of the current dictatorship. However, by deepening and broadening their historical and theoretical perspective, scholars can also gain an appreciation for the legacies of private property, entrepreneurialism and even democratic procedure and civil liberties that also exist in Cuba. These positive traditions ultimately combine with the new traditions and blessings the welfare state has bestowed on Cuba under socialist rule to provide what may be the most promising conditions for the development of procedural and substantive democracy in the developing world.