"Extremely useful to scholars and readers interested in Latin America, socialist countries in transition, U.S. foreign policy, comparative political and economic systems, [and] revolutionary change. . . . Will be an excellent textbook in courses related to those subjects."--Carmelo Mesa-Lago, University of Pittsburgh


By October 1991, when Cuba's Fourth Communist Party Congress met, international communism had crumbled, and Cuba, mired in a deep recession, faced serious internal pressures and a hostile external economic environment. These essays reflect the political and economic concerns highlighted at the congress.
Despite their interdisciplinary approaches and differences in point of view, the authors agree that significant change in Cuba is imminent and that the country stands at the intersection of several roads, each associated with alternative models of political and economic organization. Where appropriate, they evaluate the strategies that the Cuban leadership is currently pursuing.


Contents
Introduction: Cuban Politics and Economics in the 1990s, by Jorge F. Pérez-López
Leadership Strategies and Mass Support: Cuban Politics before and after the 1991 Communist Party Congress, by Jorge I. Domínguez
The Party, the Fourth Congress, and the Process of Counterreform, by Juan M. del Aguila
Continuity and Change in Cuba's International Relations, by Damián J. Fernández
Cuba's Economic Strategy and Alternative Futures, by Archibald R. M. Ritter
Reflections on Economic Policy: Cuba's Food Program, by Sergio G. Roca
Cuba's Labor Adjustment Policies during the Special Period, by Sergio Díaz-Briquets and Jorge F. Pérez-López
Tourism in Cuba: A Development Strategy for the 1990s? by María Dolores Espino
Cuban Biotechnology: A First World Approach to Development, by Julie M. Feinsilver
Islands of Capitalism in an Ocean of Socialism: Joint Ventures in Cuba's Development Strategy, by Jorge F. Pérez-López
Reforming Cuba's Economic System from Within, by Andrew Zimbalist
Economic Reform in Cuba: Lessons from Eastern Europe, by Jorge F. Pérez-López



Jorge F. Pérez-López is the author of The Economics of Cuban Sugar and of numerous publications on Cuban economics, trade law, and international trade issues. He is an editor of the journal Cuban Studies.

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"Much more so than previous collections, this volume gives a precise rendering of the situation in Cuba in the mid-1990s." "this book is sure to become a standard source in Cuban studies."--Cuban Studies
--Cuban Studies