US Democracy Promotion in Cuba: the Legitimization of Authoritarianism
Date
2002
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Haverford College. Department of Political Science
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Award
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eng
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Haverford users only
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Abstract
Despite the gains made by Fidel Castro's revolution, his regime has, over the last four decades, become increasingly more repressive. The government controls all media, Cubans are virtually restricted to the island, elections are meaningless, and thousands of political dissidents are currently in Cuban prisons. But Castro has legitimately been in power longer than any previous Cuban political figure, because he won political autonomy for Cuba. That is, at least, as he has continued to present himself and his now mythical revolution. Accompanied only by his deceased fellow revolutionary, Che Guevara, whom death has made quite unlikely to challenge Castro for power, Castro has 1 elevated himself from a mere political figure to a symbol of heroism. He has done this by presenting the revolution, his revolution, as a continuing struggle for independence and sovereignty. Exploiting the troubled history between Cuba and the United States and particularly US policy towards Cuba, Castro dramatically creates a ceaseless threat of American imperialism. The United States is not without its share of the blame, however, for keeping Fidel Castro in power. Promotion of democracy and the attempt to promote transition in government, not only in Cuba, but throughout Latin America and the world, has often been anti-democratic and aggressive. Even when it has not been, US policy has lent itself to Castro's propaganda machines, which continue to present the United States as an immediate threat to Cuban independence. As such, it justifies the rule of whoever can satisfy this most immediate concern, that of defense of sovereignty and autonomy. With this pseudo-wartime mentality, Cubans have come to accept authoritarianism as a legitimate means of governance because legitimacy in its traditional sense has been leveled. 2 While much has been said about the power of Cuban nationalism and the ineffectiveness of US foreign policy towards Cuba in promoting a democratic transition, these two concepts have not been put into conversation with each other. Authors such as Thomas Carothers and Noam Chomsky have argued that aiding democracy is likely to be challenging, but in the case of each, there is insufficient analysis of why exactly it proves to be so. And, where authors like Howard Wiarda and Edward McCaughan succeed in examining the intricacies of Latin American politics and nationalism, they fail to account for the role of anti-American backlash and the forces behind it. Most importantly, the question that has not been asked is what are the real effects of US democracy promotion in strengthening or weakening Fidel Castro's anti-democratic rule in Cuba? This paper will focus on the promotion of democracy in Cuba since 1989 and the negative Cuban response that it has inspired. It will assess the history between the two countries, particularly Castro's revolution and the resulting American response. Next, it will discuss the concepts of democracy in both countries, the possibility for a transition to democracy, and the potential of promoting democracy. Finally, it will analyze US power and perceived imperialism, Cuban nationalism, and Fidel Castro's use of American democracy promotion in Cuba to incite Cuban nationalism and justify his authoritarian rule as a legitimate means of governance on the island.