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Recent discussions regarding Cuba have revealed some of the many challenges and contradictions facing the country as it moves into an uncertain future somewhere between socialism and free market capitalism. At a 2008 conference in Manhattan titled "A Changing Cuba in a Changing World," scholars from all political stripes gathered to discuss the future of the island nation.¹ Many of the keynote talks focused on pressing questions both within and outside of Cuba: Where was Cuba headed in the twenty-first century? What economic and political maps should Cuba use? What role, if any, would the international (or specifically American) community play in this future? Like many conferences on the subject of Cuba, the debates were often contentious as economists touting Cuba's repressed entrepreneurial spirit squared off against political scientists sympathetic to the aims and spirit of the Cuban revolution in 1959. While many on the right of the political spectrum envisioned a more "global" Cuba, with open markets freed from restrictions on trade, investment, and entrepreneurship, many on the left were anxious about the risk that these moves posed to key areas of social policy in the country—namely a well-funded, health, education, and cultural sector. However, as the actions implemented by the new commander-in-chief Raoul Castro indicate, change is coming to Cuba. Recent decisions to open up the real estate market, to free up regulations on some forms of small business, and to lay off large sectors of the public service, present major challenges to the revolutionary status quo and will undoubtedly have broad implications for the country in the future.

DOI: 10.1057/9781137032690_10

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