Abstract Fifteen 1999

GLOBAL

DEVELOPMENT STUDIES

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Volume One Winter 1998-Spring 1999 Numbers 3-4.

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THE STABILITY OF CUBA’s POLITICAL SYSTEM

Benigno E. Aguirre

Department of Sociology

Texas A&M University

College Station, Texas 77843

Published online: December 15, 2016

ABSTRACT

This article questions the capacity of competing theories to explain the long-term stability of the Cuban regime that grew out of the revolution of 1959. Peter Berger's theory of legitimacy is shown as a relevant guide to understand the durability of the revolutionary state, Castro's style of governance, the institutional arrangements, and the popular internalization that still embraces the values of the revolution. Because elite viability rests on social or cultural values that have been weakening since the 1970s, those who want to see peaceful change in Cuba should challenge the system by supporting other cultural values and the cultural opposition that exists on the island.