Cuba: The Politics of Extremism Revised 9/30/03

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1 Cuba: The Politics of Extremism Revised 9/30/03 Amherst College Prof. Javier Corrales Political Science 48, Fall 2003 Clark House 202 and 10-11:20am x Office Hours: W 2-3:15p jcorrales@amherst.edu Th 3:30-4:30p Description of the Course The study of Cuba's politics presents opportunities to address issues of universal concern to social scientists and humanists in general, not just Latin Americanists. When is it rational to be radical? Why have Cuban politics forced so many individuals to adopt extreme positions? What are the causes of radical revolutions? Is pre-revolutionary Cuba a case of too little development, uneven development or maybe too rapid development? What is the role of leaders: do they make history, are they the product of history, or are they the makers of unintended history? Was the 1959 revolution inevitable? Was it necessary? How are new (radical) states constructed? What are the roles of foreign actors, existing political institutions, ethnicity, nationalism, religion and sexuality in this process? How does a small nation manage to become influential in world affairs, even altering the behavior of superpowers? What are the conditions that account for the survival of authoritarianism? To what extent is the revolution capable of self-reform? Is the current intention of Cuba=s leaders of pursuing closed politics with open economics viable? What are the most effective mechanisms to effect change of regime? These are some of the questions that this course will address. Purpose of the Course As with almost everything in politics, there are more than just two sides to the issue of Cuba. One aim of the course is to expose you to as many different views and approaches as possible. Although I care deeply about the study of Cuba, this course is more about an approach to thinking and learning than it is about Cuba even though you will surely learn a lot about Cuba. The course emphasizes the politics of Cuba domestic and international. But we will also look at other aspects: the economy, society, culture, demographics, etc. In addition, the course will cover a diversity of approaches to the study of Cuba. Again, the course will expose you to the way that political scientists think about Cuba and its politics, but it will also introduce the works of historians, sociologists, fiction writers, propagandists, film makers, economists, and policy analysts. In this sense, the course will be inter-disciplinary, both in its focus as well as its approaches. Lectures Some lectures, especially in the first half of the course, will be run as debates: one lecture will look at a set of political events from a particular point of view; the subsequent lecture will look at the same set of political events from an alternative point of view. The point is to expose you to alternative views. Some

2 -2- lectures will parallel the controversies that you will be reading about; others will present yet another viewpoint not found in the readings. I will always let you know before every lecture whether I am using a debate format or not. Student Responsibilities Readings: If you are not prepared to read approximately 130 pages per week, you should not take this class. It is essential that you complete the reading assignments prior to class meetings. The readings can be classified into two categories. The first consists of theoretical and/or interpretative readings. You are expected to identify and apply the argument contained in these readings. The other category consists of Aprimary sources@ such as private correspondence, government documents, public speeches of politicians, and data charts, as well as memoirs about the events under study. Most of the readings are contained in two multiliths for the course, which are available for purchase at the Department of Political Science (contact Vicki Farrington, Clark House, x2208). The multilith is divided into two volumes. In order to obtain Volume 2, you must submit an order form to the Political Science Department (c/o Vicki Farrington) by the end of the add/drop period. Being registered for the course does not entitle you to Volume 2; you must order your copy. Order forms are available in Vol. 1 or by contacting the Political Science Department. In addition, the following required books are available for purchase at Jeffrey Amherst Bookstore, 26 S. Prospect Street, Amherst: Jatar-Hausmann, Ana Julia The Cuban Way. West Hartford, CT: Kumarian Press. Purcell, Susan Kaufman and David Rothkopf, eds Cuba: The Contours of Change. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienners. Films: You are required to watch the following movies: I Am Cuba, passages (USSR) A Successful Man (Cuba) Crisis in Central America: Cuba (USA) Memories of Underdevelopment (Cuba) Strawberry and Chocolate (Cuba) Before Night Falls (USA) Bitter Sugar (USA) Times: 4pm and 7:30pm Date: Check syllabus and Website (under assignment)

3 -3- Requirements: Item Percent of Final Grade Paper 1 Paper 2 Paper 3 or 4 Participation 15 percent 20 percent 40 percent 25 percent Papers: All students are required to write four papers. I will only grade three of those papers: the first two and either paper 3 or 4. You will decide at the end of the course which paper (3 or 4) you would like me to grade. Topics for all papers will be distributed at least one week prior to the due date. Papers will be based on class material; no outside research is necessary. Each paper will count approximately percent of your grade, with your strongest paper counting more than the others. There are no in-class or final exams. Participation: In addition to lectures, readings, and films, this course relies heavily on class participation. Students should come to class prepared to discuss the readings and films. The format of the class will be a combination of lecture and discussion: on some days, I will mostly lecture, on others, I will mostly lead a discussion. Class discussion provides a chance for you to talk about the readings, work through the arguments, evaluate events, and engage in lively exchanges. Attendance at class meetings is mandatory. Attendance, however, is not the same as participation. The latter is the extent to which you make a qualitative contribution to the discussion in progress. It entails addressing the issues raised by me and your fellow students, as well as raising your own issues when pertinent. Class participation will be decisive in borderline cases. I will never call on you to participate in class. s, you must take the initiative to participate. At the beginning of the semester, you will be assigned to one of six groups of leading discussants. On designated class meetings, leading discussants will be expected to participate more actively and be better prepared than the rest of the class. The List of assignments indicate what days each group is expected to be take the lead. Extensions: The policy is simple: No extensions will be granted (except in extreme circumstances, such as serious medical emergencies). Late papers will be marked down.

4 -4- Schedule of Assignments, PS48 Date Class discussion Assignments Sep 2 Sep 4 G-1 Introduction Going to Extremes, Discussion Cabrera Infante, Guillermo Three Trapped Tigers. Harper Colophon Books, pp Articles by Jesse Helmes (pp. 80, 83-84), Christopher Dodd (pp. 81, 84, 87), and Ricardo Alarcón (pp ) in Cigar Aficionado, June Suchlicki, Jaime Cuba. From Columbus to Castro. Fourth Edition. Pergamon-Brassey, pp Part I: Cuba Prior to 1959: Five Theories of Revolution Sep 9 Sep11 G-3 Sep 16 G-4 Sep 18 The Necessary Revolution (Socio-Economic Structuralism) Marx, Karl [1848]. Manifesto of the Communist Party (excerpts). In Jack A. Goldstone, ed., Revolutions. Theoretical, Comparative, and Historical Studies. San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Publishers, pp Suchlicki, Jaime, pp Pérez, Louis A., Jr Cuba. Between Reform and Revolution. Second Edition. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. vii-x, The Necessary Revolution, part II Discussion of I Am Cuba O Connor, James The Origins of Socialism in Cuba. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, pp. 1-33, Pérez, Louis, pp The Unnecessary Revolution Batista, Fulgencio The Growth and Decline of the Cuban Republic. New York: The Devin-Adair Company, pp , Cuban Economic Research Project A Study on Cuba. Miami, FL: University of Miami Press, pp Pérez-Stable, Marifeli Reflections on Political Possibilities: Cuba s Peaceful Transition that Wasn t ( ). Paper presented at the Second CRI Congress on Cuban and Cuban American Affairs, Miami, Florida. Ritter, Harry Counterfactual Analysis. Dictionary of Concepts in History, New York: Greenwood Press, pp Institutional Deficits and Revolution Huntington, Samuel P Political Order in Changing Societies. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, pp. 1-9, del Águila, Juan M. Cuba: Dilemmas of a Revolution. Third Edition. Boulder CO: Westview Press, pp Sep 9: Small One- Page paper due in class Wed Sep 10: Film: Iam Cuba Mon Sep 22 FILM: A Successful Man State Structuralism and Revolution (and the concept of State-

5 -5- Sep 23 G-1 Sep 25 capitalism) Skocpol, Theda States and Social Revolutions: A Comparative Analysis of France, Russia and China. Cambridge University Press, pp Morley, Michael H Imperial State and Revolution: The United States and Cuba, Cambridge University Press, pp Speck, Mary Let There Be Candy For Everyone: Reform, Regulation, and Rent-Seeking in the Republic of Cuba, Paper presented at the Meeting of the Association for the Study of the Cuban Economy (ASCE), Coral Gables, Florida (mimeo). A Successful Man. The Stolen Revolution: Collective Action and Free-Ridership Franqui, Carlos Diary of the Cuban Revolution. Viking-Penguin, pp. 9-19, 43-46, 65-67, 72-75, 77-78, 80, 83-87, 93-94, , 126, 129, , , , , , , , , , , , , , Guevara, Che Che Guevara and the Cuban Revolution. Pathfinder Press, pp , 55-60, Part II. The United States and Radicalism Abroad Mon Sep 29: Paper 2 due by 10am. Sep 30 Oct 2 G-3 Oct 7 G-4 Oct 9 Can the U.S. Shape Democratization Abroad? U.S. and Cuba in the 1950s (part 1) Pastor, Robert Preempting Revolutions. International Security 15, 4 (1991):54-86 Corrales, Javier Strong Societies, Weak Parties. Latin American Politics and Society, 43, 2 (Summer): Can the U.S. Shape Democratization Abroad? (part 2) Smith, Earl The Fourth Floor. Random House, pp , 82-89, , , Batista, Fulgencio Cuba Betrayed. Vantage Press, pp , U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian, Foreign Relations of the United States, , vol. 6 (U.S. Government Printing Office. 1987), pp , 30-31, , , , Can the U.S. Shape Democratization Abroad? (part 3) U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian Foreign Relations of the United States, Vol. 6, US Government Printing Office, pp. 1-27, 54-62, 71-74, 92-93, , , , , , , , , , , , Review Pérez Constructing a Radical State: When is it rational not to be a moderate?: Domestic and Int l Politics Castro, Fidel History will absolve me (October 16, 1953). In Bonachea, Rolando E., and Nelson P. Valdés, eds. Revolutionary Struggle , Volume 1, The Selected Works of Fidel Castro. Cambridge: The MIT Press, pp O Fri Oct 11: Paper No. 2

6 -6- Oct 14 Oct 16 Oct 21 G-1 Oct 23 Oct 28 G-3 Oct 30 G-4 Nov 4 No Class No Class Castro, Fidel I Will be a Marxist-Leninist to the End of My Life (December 2, 1961), passages. In Barnes, Jack, ed., Selected Speeches of Fidel Castro. New York: Pathfinder, pp Fernández, Damián J Cuba and the Politics of Passion. Austin, TX: The University of Texas Press, pp Bonsal, Philip Cuba, Castro, and the United States. Univ. of Pittsburgh Press, pp Alexeev, Aleksandr. Cuba after the Triumph of the Revolution. Domínguez, Jorge I To Make a World Safe for Revolution: Cuba=s Foreign Policy. Harvard University Press, pp , Che Guevara and the Cuban Revolution, pp , Did Anyone Push Anyone? Welch Jr., Richard E Response to Revolution. The United States and the Cuban Revolution, Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, pp Luxenberg, Alan Did Eisenhower Push Castro into the Arms of the Soviets? In Irving Louis Horowitz, ed., Cuban Communism. 7 th Edition, New Brunswick Press, pp Discussion of Crisis in Central America: Cuba The Cuban Missile Crisis Guest Lecture by Prof. Bill Taubman Reading TBA. Part III. Gender and Sexuality in a Worker s Paradise The New Man Fagen, Richard The Transformation of Political Culture in Cuba. Stanford University Press, pp ; Che Guevara and the Cuban Revolution, pp , , , 365, Discussion of: Memories of Underdevelopment The New Man (cont d) Pérez-Stable, Marifeli The Cuban Revolution, pp Lockwood, Lee Castro s Cuba, Cuba s Fidel. pp , , , No Class The 10 Million Ton Sugar Campaign MacEwan, Arthur Revolution and Economic Development in Cuba, pp, (P) Fernández, pp Bunck, Julie Marie The Cuban Revolution and Women s Rights. In Irving Louis Horowitz, ed. Cuban Communism, Seventh Edition. Mon Oct 20: Film: Crisis in Central America: Cuba Mon Oct 27: Film: Memories of Underdevelopment Mon Nov 3: FILM: Strawberry and Chocolate Wed Nov 5: FILM: Before Night Falls

7 Nov 6 G-1 Nov 11 Nov 13 G-3 Nov 18 G-4 Nov 20 Nov Dec 2 G-1/2 Transaction Press, pp Hypergayness, hyperrepression Arenas, Reinaldo Before Night Falls (Read only the following chapters: Eroticism, Violence, A Student, Havana, Fidel Castro, Good-bye to the Chicken Farm, My Generation, A Trip, Eroticism, Super Stalinism, Sugar Mill). Discussion of: Strawberry and Chocolate, and Before Night Falls. Part IV. Coping with Extreme Circumstances Cuba s Special Period: Surviving Extreme Circumstances (part 1) Triay, Victor Andres Fleeing Castro. University Press of Florida, pp (P) Jatar-Hausmann, Ana Julia The Cuban Way. Kumarian Press, pp. xvxvii, Surviving Extreme Circumstances (Part 2) (P) Jatar-Hausmann, pp Facio, Elisa Jineterismo During the Special Period. In Eloise Linger and John Cotman, eds. Cuban Transitions at the Millenium. Largo, MD: International Development Options, pp Discussion of Bitter Sugar. The non-transition: The Role of Miami, (Neither) Cuban-(nor) Americans Ackerman, Holly Incentives and Impediments to Cuban National Reconciliation. In Eloise Linger and John Cotman, eds. Cuban Transitions at the Millenium. Largo, MD: International Development Options, pp García, María Cristina Havana USA. Berkeley: University of California Press, pp , Suchliki, Jaime Castro s Cuba: Continuity Instead of Change. In Susan Kaufman Purcell and David Rothkopf, eds., Cuba: The Contours of Change. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienners, pp The Non-Transition: The Role of the U.S. Embargo: Purcell and Rothkopf, chapters by Zimbalist (pp ), and Purcell (pp ). Schwartzman, Kathleen Can International Boycotts Transform Poltical Systems? The Cases of Cuba and South Africa. Latin American Politics and Society 43, 2 (Summer): (P) Jatar-Hausmann, pp Carter, Jimmy Opening to Cuba: We Must Find a Common Ground. The Washington Post, May 24. Bush, George W Remarks by the President on Cuba Policy Review, The White House, Office of the Press Secretary, May 20. Thanksgiving The Non-transition: Comparisons with Chile, Nicaragua and Venezuela Przeworski, Adam. Democracy and Market. Cambridge Univ Press, pp Oppenheim, Lois Hecht Politics in Chile, pp Mon Nov 10: Paper No. 3 Wed Nov 12: Film: Bitter Sugar

8 -8- Dec 4 G-3/4 Dec 9 Selbin, Eric Modern Latin American Revolutions. Westview, pp , (Nicaragua). In the 1999 editions, pp , and Revisit: Corrales, Javier Civil Society under Post-Totalitarianism: Is it possible? León, Francisco Socialism and Sociolismo: Social Actors and Economic Change in 1990s Cuba. In Centeno and Font, eds., pp Dilla, Haroldo and Philip Oxhorn The Virtues and Misfortunes of Civil Society in Cuba. Latin American Perspectives 29, 4 (July): The Claim to Equality Tourism (and Tourism in Health) Manual Madrid-Aris. Corrales, Javier Reading TBA Domínguez, Jorge Your friend, Fidel. Harvard Magazine.

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