Cuba And Lessons From Other Communist Transitions A Workshop Report

Help identify the commonalties and differences in communist transitions in Europe and Asia, draw lessons from them, and apply them in a comparative fashion to Cuba.

Based on comparative lessons from other transitions from communism, the process of reform in Leninist societies may be divided into two main stages: the onset of reform; the sustaining and deepening of the reform process. The first stage may be marked initially by "tinkering type measures that do not alter significantly the power of the party and the state, but which may be followed by deeper structural reforms that begin to change the political and economic character of the system. Once the initial stage is passed without triggering a popular revolution, then the reforms need to be sustained and deepened. As they become more structural in nature, they may lead toward a complete transition away from command economy and monopoly on political power--the twin pillars of Leninist communist regimes, upheld by actual or threatened repression. However, what is important is the movement and direction of the reform process; the end point may not necessarily be some kind of a replica of a Western democratic system.

Includes publications previously listed in the supplements to the Index of selected publications of the Rand Corporation (Oct. 1962-Feb. 1963).

This report presents conference proceedings from "The RAND Forum on Cuba" (Washington, D.C., 1998), which was convened to examine the future of Cuba and to discuss U.S. policy options towards a Cuba under and after Fidel Castro.