Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-c9gpj Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-08T05:46:45.919Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Cuba in Transition? The Civil Sphere's Challenge to the Castro Regime

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Gerardo Otero  and
Janice O'Bryan
Gerardo Otero
Affiliation:
Simon Fraser University
Janice O'Bryan
Affiliation:
Simon Fraser University, with a specialization in Latin American studies
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article assesses how much the emergence of civil society and private market activities are challenging Cuba's ruling communist regime. The assessment is based on a conceptualization of a “civil sphere,” constituted by civil society and private market activities (or the “second economy”), and how this affects democratic transitions from state-socialist societies, using Cuba as a case study. Examining the multiple sectors at play reveals an increasingly organized and vocal opposition, but one hampered by continued government repression. Considering several theoretical and historically possible scenarios, this study concludes that under current conditions, the civil sphere's significant challenge is still not enough for a regime change in the Cuban state.

Type
Research Article
Information
Latin American Politics and Society , Volume 44 , Issue 4 , Winter 2002 , pp. 29 - 57
Copyright
Copyright © University of Miami 2002

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Amnesty International. 1996. Cuba: Government Crackdown on Dissent Report. April 25. http:www.amnesty.orgailibaipub1996AMR22501496.htm.Google Scholar
Arana, Ana. 1996. Cuba: Seeds of a Free Press. Columbia Journalism Review 34 (Janary-February: 11–12.Google Scholar
Arato, Andrew. 1981. Civil Society against the State: Poland 1980–81. Telos 4 (Spring: 23–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arreola, Gerardo. 2002. Terminó la consulta; la reforma constitucional también anula el Proyecto Varela. La Jornada (Mexico City), June 19: World section.Google Scholar
Baloyra, Enrique A. 1993. Socialist Transitions and Prospects for Change in Cuba. in Baloyra and Morris 1993 38–63.Google Scholar
Baloyra, Enrique A. 1994. Where Does Cuba Stand? in Schulz 1994d 23–40.Google Scholar
Baloyra, Enrique A., and James, A. Morris 1993. Introduction; Conclusions. in Baloyra and Morris 1993. 3–14; 289–300.Google Scholar
Baloyra, Enrique A., and James, A. Morris, eds. 1993. Conflict and Change in Cuba Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.Google Scholar
Batista, Israel. 1994. Civil Society: a Paradigm or a New Slogan Ecumenical Review 46, 1 (January): 12–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bellavance, Joël-Denis. 1999. Pm Orders Review of Cuban Relations after Critics Jailed. National Post (Don Mills, Ontario). March 16: A1.Google Scholar
Bengelsdorf, Carollee. 1994. The Problem of Democracy in Cuba: Between Vision and Reality New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Bengelsdorf, Carollee. 1995. Responses to Edelstein, “the Future of Democracy in Cuba.” Latin American Perspectives 22, 4 (Fall): 28–30.Google Scholar
Bernhard, Michael. 1993. Civil Society and Democratic Transition in East Central Europe. Political Science Quarterly 108, 2: 307–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bowles, Samuel, and Herbert, Gintis. 1998. Recasting Egalitarianism: New Rules for Communities, States and Markets. The Real Utopias Project, vol. 3, ed. Erik, Olin Wright. London: Verso.Google Scholar
Buechler, Stephen M. 2000. Social Movements in Advanced Capitalism: The Political Economy and Cultural Construction of Social Activism New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Buttgieg, Joseph A. 1995. Gramsci on Civil Society. Boundary 2 22, 3 (Fall): 1–32.Google Scholar
Cardoso, Eliana, and Ann, Helwege. 1992. Cuba After Communism Cambridge: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Centeno, Miguel A. 1997. Cuba's Search for Alternatives. In Centeno and Font 1997. 9–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Centeno, Miguel A., and Mauricio, Font, eds. 1997. Toward a New Cuba? Legacies of a Revolution Boulder: Lynne Rienner.Google Scholar
Cohen, Jean L., and Andrew, Arato. 1992. Civil Society and Political Theory Cambridge: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Cross, Peter. 1995. Cuba's Socialist Revolution: Last Rites or Rejuvenation Regimes in Crisis: The Post-Soviet Era and the Implications for Development, ed. Barry, Gills and Shahid, Qadir. London: Zed Books. 243–85.Google Scholar
Del Aguila, Juan M. 1993. The Politics of Dissidence: a Challenge to the Monolith. in Baloyra and Morris 1993 164–88.Google Scholar
Del Aguila, Juan M. 1994. Cuba: Dilemmas of a Revolution. 3rd ed. Boulder: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Diamond, Larry, ed. 1992. The Democratic Revolution: The Struggles for Freedom and Pluralism in the Developing World New York: Praeger.Google Scholar
di Palma, Giuseppe. 1991. Legitimization from the Top to Civil Society: Politico-Cultural Change in Eastern Europe. World Politics 44, 1 (October): 49–80.Google Scholar
Dilla, Haroldo. 1999. The Virtues and Misfortunes of Civil Society. NACLA Report on the Americas 32, 5 (March-April): 30–36.Google Scholar
Domínguez, Jorge I. 1994. Leadership Strategies and Mass Support: Cuban Politics Before and After the 1991 Communist Party Congress. In Cuba at a Crossroads: Politics and Economics After the Fourth Party Congress, ed. Jorge, F. Pérez-López Gainesville: University Press of Florida. 1–17.Google Scholar
Dryzek, John S. 1996. Democracy in Capitalist Times: Ideals, Limits and Struggles New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Eckstein, Susan. 1994. Back from the Future: Cuba Under Castro Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
The Economist. 1997. Sea-food Platter, Havana-style. 342(8006). March 1: 44.Google Scholar
Edelstein, Joel C. 1995. The Future of Democracy in Cuba. Latin American Perspectives 22, 4 (Fall): 7–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eyal, Gil, Iván, Szelényi, and Eleanor, Townsley. 1998. Making Capitalism Without Capitalists: Class Formation and Elite Struggles in Post-Communist Central Europe London: Verso.Google Scholar
Falcoff, Mark. 1994. Cuba and the United States: Thinking about the Future. in Schulz 1994d 117–26.Google Scholar
Fernández, Damián J. 1994. Informal Politics and the Crisis of Cuban Socialism. in Schulz 1994d 69–81.Google Scholar
Fernández, Damián J. 1999. (Desperately) Seeking Civil Society in Cuba Cuba Today: the Events Taking Place in Cuba and the Ensuing Issues for Canadian Policy Background papers from the round Table of the Canadian Foundation for the Americas (Focal). 30–32.Google Scholar
Font, Mauricio A. 1996. Friendly Prodding and Other Sources of Change in Cuba. Social Research 63, 2 (Summer): 573–602.Google Scholar
Fox, Jonathan. 1996. How Does Civil Society Thicken? the Political Construction of Social Capital in Rural Mexico. World Development 24, 6: 1089–1103.Google Scholar
Garner, Roberta. 1996. Contemporary Movements and Ideologies New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc..Google Scholar
González, Edward, and David, Ronfeldt. 1994. Storm Warnings for Cuba Santa Monica: RAND.Google Scholar
Hadenius, Axel, and Fredrik, Uggla. 1996. Making Civil Society Work, Promoting Democratic Development: What Can States and Donors Do World Development 24, 10: 1621–39.Google Scholar
Holmes, Leslie. 1997. Post-Communism: An Introduction Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Howley, Brendan. 1998. Inside the Cuban Gulag. Shift Magazine (March): 42–47, 49.Google Scholar
Human, Rights Watch. 1997. Cuba. Human Rights Watch: Annual Report. New York: Human Rights Watch.. 107–12.Google Scholar
Johnson, Peter T. 1993. The Nuanced Lives of the Intelligentsia. in Baloyra and Morris 1993 137–63.Google Scholar
Lago, Armando. 1993. Psychiatry and Torture in Cuba. Partisan Review 60, 2: 233–36.Google Scholar
Larmer, Brook, and Rod, Nordland. 1998. Preaching to the Masses. Newsweek 131, 5 (February 2): 54–57.Google Scholar
León, Francisco. Socialism and Sociolismo: Social Actors and Economic Change in 1990s Cuba. In Centeno and Font 1997. 39–51.Google Scholar
Lisio, Stephen A. 1996. Helms-Burton and the Point of Diminishing Returns. International Affairs 72, 4: 691–711.Google Scholar
Lowy, Michael. 1986. Mass Organization, Party, and State: Democracy in the Transition to Socialism. In Transition and Development: Problems of Third World Socialism, ed. Richard, R. Fagen, Carmen, Diana Deere, and José, Luis Coraggio. New York: Monthly Review Press. 264–79.Google Scholar
Marshall, Peter. 1987. Cuba Libre: Breaking the Chains? London: Victor Gallancz.Google Scholar
McGeary, Johanna. 1998. Clash of Faiths. Time 151, 3 (January 26): 20–28.Google Scholar
McGeary, Johanna, and Cathy, Booth. 1993. Cuba Alone. Time 142, 24 (December 6): 20–29.Google Scholar
Morris, Nomi. 1996. Can Cuba Change Maclean's 109, 3 (January 15): 16–21.Google Scholar
Nelson, Daniel N. 1996. Civil Society Endangered. Social Research 63, 2 (Summer): 345–68.Google Scholar
NotiCen: Latin American Data Base. 1999. Participants in Havana Summit Agree on Economic Matters and Nonintervention but Lecture Cuba on Dissidents. NotiCen 4, 44 (December 2). .Google Scholar
O'Bryan, Janice M. 1999. Democracy from within? Civil Society and Social Capital in Cuba. Master's thesis, Simon Fraser University.Google Scholar
Padula, Alfred. 1993. Cuban Socialism: Thirty Years of Controversy. in Baloyra and Morris 1993 15–37.Google Scholar
Pastor, Manuel 1996. Cuba and Cuban Studies: Crossing Boundaries during a “Special Period.” Latin American Research Review 31, 3: 218–33.Google Scholar
Pateman, Carole. 1996. Democracy and Democratization. Presidential address, 16th World Congress of the International Political Science Association. International Political Science Review 17, 1: 5–12.Google Scholar
Pérez-López, Jorge F. 1997. Cuba's Second Economy and the Market Transition. in Centeno and Font 1997 171–86.Google Scholar
Pérez-Stable, Marifeli. 1992. Charismatic Authority, Vanguard Party Politics, and Popular Mobilizations: Revolution and Socialism in Cuba. In Cuban Studies 22, ed. Jorge, I. Domínguez Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press. 3–26.Google Scholar
Pérez-Stable, Marifeli. 1997. The Invisible Crisis: the Exhaustion of Politics in 1990s Cuba. in Centeno and Font 1997 25–38.Google Scholar
Phillips, Andrew. 1998. Soul-searching in Cuba: the Pope Boosts the Church—and Castro. Maclean's 111, 5 (February 2): 34–39.Google Scholar
Pierson, Christopher. 1984. New Theories of State and Civil Society: Recent Developments in Post-Marxist Analysis of the State. Sociology 18, 4 (November): 563–71.Google Scholar
Planas, J. Richard. 1994. Political Changes and Social Attitudes in Cuba during the Special Period: Implications. in Schulz 1994d 83–96.Google Scholar
Planas, J. Richard.. Why Does Castro Survive? in Schulz. 1994d. 41–51.Google Scholar
The Province (Vancouver, BC). 1997. Cuba Gets Christmas Day Holiday. December 24: A84.Google Scholar
Purcell, Susan Kaufman. 1992. Collapsing Cuba. Foreign Affairs 71, 1: 130–45.Google Scholar
Rabkin, Rhoda. 1992. Cuban Socialism: Ideological Responses to the Era of Socialist Crisis. In Cuban Studies 22, ed. Jorge, I. Domínguez Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press. 27–50.Google Scholar
Ritter, Archibald R. M. 1998. Cuba's Economic Reform Process, 1998: through Paralysis to Renewal? Paper presented at the annual conference of the Canadian Association of Latin American and Caribbean Studies, Vancouver, Bc, March 16.Google Scholar
Roman, Peter. 1995. Workers' Parliaments in Cuba. Latin American Perspectives 22, 4 (Fall): 43–58.Google Scholar
Schulz, Donald E. 1994a. Introduction: the Crises of the Castro Regime. in Schulz 1994d 1–5.Google Scholar
Schulz, Donald E. 1994b. Postscript: the Cuban Crisis in the Summer of 1993—an Opportunity for the United States? in Schulz 1994d 175–83.Google Scholar
Schulz, Donald E. 1994c. The United States and Cuba: from a Strategy of Conflict to Constructive Engagement. in Schulz 1994d 145–74.Google Scholar
Schulz, Donald E. 1994d. Cuba and the Future Westport: Greenwood Press.Google Scholar
Scott, James C. 1985. Weapons of the Weak: Everyday Forms of Peasant Resistance New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Suárez Hernández, Georgina. 1992. Political Leadership in Cuba. Trans. Anibal Yáñez. In The Cuban Revolution into the 1990s Latin American Perspectives. Boulder: Westview Press.. 47–60.Google Scholar
Szelényi, Iván. 1988. Socialist Entrepreneurs: Transformation of Rural Social Structures Under State Socialism Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.Google Scholar
Tarrow, Sidney. 1998. Power in Movement: Social Movements and Contentious Politics. 2d ed. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Weigle, Marcia A., and Jim, Butterfield. 1992. Civil Society in Reforming Communist Regimes: the Logic of Emergence. Comparative Politics 25, 1 (October): 1–23.Google Scholar
Werlau, Maria C. 1997. Foreign Investment in Cuba: the Limits of Commercial Engagement. World Affairs 160, 2 (Fall): 51–69.Google Scholar
Zimbalist, Andrew. Treading Water: Cuba's Economic and Political Crisis. in Schulz 1994d.7–21.Google Scholar