Cuba’s role in global power politic. Geopolitical and geoeconomics perspectives

Abstract

<p>In this article, we explored the complicated role Cuba plays in global power politics through geopolitics and geoeconomics as well as from the viewpoint of dependency. There is no denying that the current global climate presents a challenge to the Cuban state. Cuba is still heavily impacted by dependencies thus making it vulnerable. Dependence is a corollary of dominance, a situation in which a developing country has to rely on a developed country’s domestic and international eco- 85 nomic policy to stimulate its own economic growth and development. The Cuban space for manoeuvering is limited and makes the policy forming ever so important. The situation of the state is partly a result of its historical context with path dependencies. Cuban economic structure is still dependent on old production structures established in the past and there is a lot of potential for development. The source of dependency comes from few export commodities as well as few partnering countries. In the case of import commodities, the variability is greater and the number of partner countries is larger resulting in less dependency. However, dependency on food and technology imports remains a significant challenge. The US blockade creates major obstacles for Cuban development. This has given opportunities for other actors to strengthen their cooperation with Cuba. China has become a prominent actor in the region and has considerably increased its influence in the Cuban economy. The European Union has through its Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement (PDCA) pursued to develop a closer bond between the two actors. However, it is important to note that the dependencies have several different forms as illustrated by the cross-impact analysis. The results of the cross-impact analysis display the limitations of Cuban influence as well as high dependency on the global actors. The geopolitical and geoeconomic frameworks provide an intriguing approach to examine these power relations. Yet, a variety of possibilities still exist for Cuba. Balanced cooperation with the Caribbean countries and the European Union could, for example, provide new opportunities for mutually beneficial collaborations. These partners come crucial in developing, for instance, the already promising fields of biotechnological and pharmaceutical industries. Utilizing these opportunities takes careful planning and smart investments. To reach their full potential it is necessary to take into account the different interactions of the complex domestic and global political processes. Cuba is on its own, facing challenging trade-offs to harmonize social and economic objectives. Especially, maintaining progress in education, health, life expectancy and other social indicators while providing incentives for personal advance, entrepreneurial initiatives and improvements in productivity call for an extremely difficult political balancing act in Cuba. Historically, Cuba’s achievements in social services are real and undeniable. Since the 1961 nationalization of education, health and other services, all Cubans have enjoyed free access to education, health care and social protection. In Cuba social development has always been a political priority, even in times of severe economic crisis. About up to one-third of the national budget has been systematically allocated to the social welfare sectors.<br></p>