People's Power: Cuba's Experience with Representative Government, Updated Edition - Updated Edition, By Peter Roman
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People's Power is a theoretical, historical and analytical account of representative government that has emerged in Cuba since the 1970's. By combining original research and extensive interviews with citizens and officials, Peter Roman illustrates how the Cuban model was built on theoretical foundations derived from Rousseau, Marx, and Lenin, and the historical precedents of the 1871 Paris Commune, the 1905 and 1917 soviets, and the pre- and post-Stalin years of the Soviet Union. Cuba's contributions to this legacy--the Organs of People's Power--include unique approaches to the nomination and election of municipal assembly delegates and National Assembly deputies, to citizen input and participation, and to the role of the Communist Party.
There is no other detailed study of the Cuban parliamentary system. Recorded eyewitness accounts the nominations sessions for municipal assembly delegates and the accountability sessions where citizens voice suggestions and complaints to their delegates, allow Cubans to speak for themselves. Reading this book is imperative for anyone interested in understanding the so often overlooked and misunderstood representative government that exists in Cuba today--as it has for decades.
About The Author:
Peter Roman is professor of political science at The Graduate Center, The City University of New York.
Cardoso's Brazil: A Land for Sale, By James Petras and Henry Veltmeyer
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Offering a systematic, critical analysis of the presidency of Fernando Cardoso, this ambitious case study assesses government policies within the framework of the "new economic model" of globalization and structural adjustment. Petras and Veltmeyer argue that Cardoso paved the way for what amounted to the takeover of a large and important part of Brazil's economy by foreign investors. The authors discuss the neoliberal model of capitalist development, the privatization of key sectors and enterprises, the human cost of structural adjustment, and the search for a community-based form of local development. The crisis in agriculture and the dynamic responses of the country's rural landless workers precipitated the rise of Brazil's populist new president, Lula, whom the authors charge has started down the same path as his predecessor.
About The Authors:
James Petras is Bartle Professor Emeritus at Binghamton University. Henry Veltmeyer is professor of sociology at Saint Mary's University.
Democracy: Government of the People or Government of the Politicians?, By José Nun
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One hundred and fifty years ago, Abraham Lincoln stressed the pressing need for a new definition of "freedom." Today, with 85 of some 190 countries claiming to be representative democracies, José Nun makes an equally compelling case for "democracy." In emerging democracies throughout much of the developing world, the need is especially urgent, as nascent debates about democracy are modified by such descriptions as delegative, transitional, incomplete, low-intensity, relative, uncertain, or even authoritarian.
In accessible and engaging style, Nun provides a comprehensive analysis of the theory and practice of democracy from ancient Greece to contemporary Latin America. The author's authoritative historical and comparative discussion of democracy is combined with his own evaluation of the conditions and possibilities for the development of genuinely democratic societies in our time, in Latin America and throughout the world. The author identifies the preconditions of a democratic regime, the links between citizenship construction and social rights, the centrality of work for the promotion of equality and freedom, and the current democratic deficits both in core and peripheral countries. All readers will benefit from Nun's insightful distinction between two visions of democracy--government of the people or government of the politicians--and its profound consequences.
-Ideal reading for courses in political science, political sociology, political history, political philosophy, and Latin American studies.
-Written in vigorous and clear prose to allow students easy access to concepts of democratic theory
About The Author:
One of Latin America's most noted scholars, José Nun is senior researcher at the National Council of Technical and Scientific Investigation (CONICET) and director of the Institute of Advanced Social Sciences, the National University of General San Martín, Buenos Aires.
The Marxism of Che Guevara: Philosophy, Economics, Revolutionary Warfare, Second Edition
By Michael Löwy
Foreword by Peter McLaren
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"This short study of the ideology of Che Guevara is an excellent companion to the many anthologies of his life and work.... The book gives one a clear understanding of the relationship of Guevara's thought to traditional Russian and Marxist philosophy. This work should prove useful to anyone interested in either contemporary Marxist thought or the Cuban Revolution."—CHOICE
In this seminal exploration of Che Guevara's contributions to Marxist thinking, Michael Löwy traces Che's ideas about Marxism both as they related to Latin America and to more general philosophical, political, and economic issues. Now revised and updated, this edition includes a chapter on Guevara's search for a new paradigm of socialism and a substantive essay by Peter McLaren on Che's continued relevance today. Lowy portrays Guevara as a revolutionary humanist who considered all political questions from an internationalist viewpoint. For him, revolutionary movements in Latin America were part of a world process of emancipation. Lowy considers especially Che's views on the contradiction between socialist planning and the law of value in the Cuban economy and his search for an alternative road to the "actually existing socialism" of the Stalinist and post-Stalinist Soviet bloc.
Che's varied occupations—doctor and economist, revolutionary and banker, agitator and ambassador, industrial organizer and guerrilla fighter—were expressions of a deep commitment to social change. This book eloquently captures his views on humanity, his contributions to the theory of revolutionary warfare, and his ideas about society's transition to socialism, offering a cohesive, nuanced introduction to the range of Guevara's thought.
About the Author
Michael Löwy is research director emeritus in sociology at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and guest lecturer at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales. His many publications include The War of Gods: Religion and Politics in Latin America.
The Catholic Church and Power Politics in Latin America: The Dominican Case in Comparative Perspective
By Emelio Betances
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"History has a curious and even dangerous way of showing us things that reality forces us to see day after day. It works like one of the enlargers we used in photography long before a computer sat on top of our desks. History is also the method Emelio Betances has chosen to focus on and illuminate that odd fellowship of the Catholic Church and the state in Latin America. He couldn't have chosen a better method."—José Luis Sáez
Since the 1960s, the Catholic Church has acted as a mediator during social and political change in many Latin American countries, especially the Dominican Republic, Bolivia, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and El Salvador. Although the Catholic clergy was called in during political crises in all five countries, the situation in the Dominican Republic was especially notable because the Church's role as mediator was eventually institutionalized. Because the Dominican state was persistently weak, the Church was able to secure the support of the Balaguer regime (1966–1978) and ensure social and political cohesion and stability. Emelio Betances analyzes the particular circumstances that allowed the Church in the Dominican Republic to accommodate the political and social establishment; the Church offered non-partisan political mediation, rebuilt its ties with the lower echelons of society, and responded to the challenges of the evangelical movement. The author's historical examination of church-state relations in the Dominican Republic leads to important regional comparisons that broaden our understanding of the Catholic Church in the whole of Latin America.
About the Author
Emelio Betances is professor of sociology and Latin American studies at Gettysburg College.