Communist and Post-Communist Studies, Vol. 31, No. 1, pp. 75–90, 1998  1998 The Regents of the University of California. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd Pergamon Printed in Great Britain 0967-067X/98 $19.00 + 0.00 PII: S0967-067X(97)00029-9 Is Cuba Different? Regime Stability, Social Change, and the Problem of Reform Strategy Andreas Pickel Trent University, Department of Political Studies, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada K9J 7BB The survival of socialism in Cuba eight years after the collapse of Communist regimes in Eastern Europe has come as a surprise to many observers. This analysis surveys Cuba’s current economic, political and social conditions, discusses regime stability and reform pressures in light of the Eastern European experience, and identifies the major processes and sources of social change. The same factors that account for the survival of the regime—charismatic leadership and the fusion of nationalism and socialism, reinforced by a confrontationist US foreign policy—open a window of opportunity for an approach to fundamental reform that could avoid the costs of both neoliberal rad- icalism and political immobilism. The analysis concludes by sketching the main elements of such an alternative reform strategy.  1998 The Regents of the University of California. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd Introduction 1 The survival of socialism in Cuba eight years after the collapse of Communist regimes in Eastern Europe and six years after the dissolution of the Soviet Union seems astounding and raises a number of theoretical and political questions. Most fundamentally, what is it about the Cuban regime that has allowed it to survive in the face of global adversity? What is so different and special about Cuban socialism? With the end of the country’s favorable economic relationship with the Soviet Union in 1991 Cuba entered a period of deep economic crisis. What have been the consequences of this crisis politically, socially, and culturally? And how has the government tried to deal with these consequences? The dominant view in the West continues to be that there is no alternative to moving quickly towards capitalism, preferably combined with the holding of free elections. However, the accumulating evidence suggests 1. The author is deeply indebted to a number of colleagues for their help. In Havana my special thanks to Aurelio Alonso, Juan Antonio, Julio Carranza, George Carriazo, Haroldo Dilla, Luis Gutierrez and Juan Valdez; in Miami to Guillermo Grenier and Lisandro Perez; and in Canada to John Kirk, David Raby, Arch Ritter, and Carlos Torres. For philosophical inspiration and analytical tools, special thanks to Mario Bunge of Montreal. Research support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada is gratefully acknowledged. 75