Cuban Revolution in the 21st Century

George Lambie

While most books and articles on Cuba seek to analyse the island’s socialist experiment from the perspective of internal dynamics or international relations, this book attempts to understand the revolutionary process as part of a counter-current against neoliberal globalization.

Rather than presenting Cuba as a socialist survivor, whose performance must be measured against the standards set by the ‘international community’, George Lambie judges Cuban socialism on the goals which the revolution sets for itself. He shows that despite Cuba’s isolation in the ‘New World Order’, and the enormous pressures it has faced to ‘conform’, its faith in an alternative socialist project has continued and grown.

Now that neoliberalism is in crisis, Cuba’s promotion of socialist values is finding a renewed relevance. In this fascinating study Lambie argues that Cuba is again becoming a symbol, and practical example, of socialism in action. This book is essential reading for students of politics and Latin American studies.
 

Contents

Introduction
1 Globalization: Understanding the Rationale for an Alternative
2 Western Liberal Democracy: Definitions, Ideology and Alternatives
3 The Cuban Revolution: Building a Participatory Democratic Process
4 The Revolution in Crisis
5 Defending Socialism against Global Capitalism. Internal Dynamics and External Opportunities
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index
 

About the Author

George Lambie is a Principal Lecturer in the Department of Public Policy at De Montfort University in Leicester. He is also a Visiting Professor of the University of Havana and joint-Editor of the International Journal of Cuban Studies. His writings on Cuba have won academic awards.