Political System in Cuba

Looking at Cuba's political system, there are many things we can gather by comparing their economic development indexes with their policies. Cuba is a totalitarian communist state and has recently been making changes to their Soviet-era constitution (Pike, "Cuba's Government"). They are dealing with economic challenges, but economic development specifically isn't as weak. Despite very low levels of economic growth (lowered from 4.7% in 6 months to just 1%) and low wages for much of the population, they are generally "much better off" due to "free education, subsidized medical care, housing, and some subsidized food" (Pike, "Cuba's Economy"). This is supported by many ratings related to poverty, health, and education. Cuba is in the top 20% of countries in terms of fewest infant mortalities ("The World Factbook: Cuba"). From another perspective, Cuba has seen improvements with gender equality as their government is modernized; The percentage "of seats held by women in single or lower houses of parliament" rose from 27.62% in 2000 to 53.22% in 2019 ("SDG Country Profile: Cuba"). Cuba is also number 1 in terms of the percent of GDP contributed to education, globally ("The World Factbook: Cuba").

Despite some of these positive effects, it is also apparent that there are negative aspects to their political situation. Cuba doesn't seem to directly report poverty levels, as they are excluded / marked "N/A" in most reputable databases, but workers salaries and living conditions in the country, which are exchanged for free healthcare/education, are low or sub-par ("Cuba's Government Structure & Economy"). Saving is also minimal (Cuba is in the bottom 15% of ranked countries in terms of saving), likely due to the huge amount of the economy controlled by the government. Cuba is also highlighted for issues with trafficking; under their political system, all forms of trafficking are not penalized, and forced labor is a concern ("The World Factbook: Cuba").




Works Cited
“Cuba's Government Structure & Economy.” Anywhere, www.anywhere.com/cuba/travel-guide/government-and-economy.
Pike, John. “Cuba's Government.” GlobalSecurity.org, GlobalSecurity.org, www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/cuba/government.htm.
Pike, John. “Cuba's Economy.” GlobalSecurity.org, GlobalSecurity.org, www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/cuba/economy.htm.
“SDG Country Profile: Cuba.” SDG Country Profile, United Nations, country-profiles.unstatshub.org/cub#goal-3.
“The World Factbook: Cuba.” Central Intelligence Agency, Central Intelligence Agency, www.cia.gov/library/publications/resources/the-world-factbook/geos/cu.html.

(Note, some of the fonts appear bolded but blogger won't let me change this)

Comments

  1. Dr. Q February 9, 2020 at 5:42 PM

    Can you explain why having a totalitarian government may account for Cuba's relatively high development and relatively low growth?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AndrewFebruary 10, 2020 at 3:30 PM

      Essentially, under the totalitarian system (which is sort of subjectively totalitarian), the freedoms of the people are limited in favor of the government's firm grip around business and programs. For example, there isn't private education, healthcare, etc., so there are no profit-oriented businesses of the like. This causes GDP to be lower. In addition, workers have little control over their wages and are likely in poverty, which leads to dissatisfaction and most likely, inefficiency. The workers will not be as motivated to work in a society where they can't control their economic situation.

      Delete
    2. AndrewFebruary 11, 2020 at 12:55 PM

      In a society where they have little ability to work to alter their wages.*

      Delete

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