Conflict and Change in Cuba

Today Castro’s regime appears vulnerable to breakdown. His government cannot deliver the minimum amounts of foodstuffs guaranteed in citizens’ rationing cards, and the achievements of the Revolution – including full employment, access to education, and quality health care – are increasingly compromised. Amid the government’s deterioration, questions abound about just what will happen next: will the ‘fidelista’ regime finesse its survival or will a new order emerge in Cuba during the 1990s? In assessing the island’s future, the thirteen original essays in this volume explore the dynamics of continuity, conflict, and change in Cuba. Analysed here are the historical trends and patterns of conflict in Cuba and these are compared to contradictions that inevitably arise in any political system. Delineated are the nature of socialism in Cuba, regime stability, the emergence of dissent, and Cuba in international perspective.