Cuba's Democratic Transition

Sept. 3 - 4, 2003

Workshop Program

Scholars Consider Multiple Scenarios

The workshop will bring together scholars interested in research that can advance the task of imagining a democratic future for Cuba. Cuba-watchers increasingly see this anticipatory process, utilizing the social science disciplines to consider multiple variables and scenarios, as a prerequisite for making a democratic transition possible at some future juncture.

Policymakers Prepare for Shaping the Future

There is no certitude about the likelihood or the timing of a democratic transition, given the slowness of change and the stifling of political debate in Cuba. But should an opportunity for transition arise, policymakers in Cuba and the US and around the world will have to be ready with a current, in-depth understanding of the important political, social, economic, cultural and religious forces that together will shape Cuba’s future.

Publication Planned

The goal is to publish a “reader” that would provide valuable information to policy makers and participants in a transition process. Participants will present working drafts of their chapters at the Kellogg workshop and near-final versions at FRIDE in Madrid in May 2004.

Questions

What institutions and structures are crucial to a future democratic transition, what roles will they play, and how can their constructive effects be maximized?
What will be the influences of globalization, secularization and other international trends upon a Cuban democratic transition?
What will be the role of religion -- both the dominant, traditional Catholic Church and emerging religious movements -- in the shaping of a new Cuban society?
What models will be useful for the activities of democratic politics and the involvement of civil society, as well as the media/information and education establishments?

Organizers

Frances Hagopian, University of Notre Dame, Kellogg Institute Faculty Fellow
Marifeli Pérez-Stable, a professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Florida International University and a Visiting Fellow at the Kellogg Institute during the fall 2003 semester, is the principal organizer of this workshop. She is an expert on Cuba, having chaired most recently the Task Force on Memory, Truth, and Justice, which issued -the report, Cuban National Reconciliation (http://memoria.fiu.edu).
Holly Rivers, Coordinator of Academic Events, Kellogg Institute

Partial List of Participants

Gustavo Arnavat (legal consultant)
Damían Fernández (Florida International University)
Sergio Díaz-Briquets, (Casals & Associates)
Alejandro de la Fuente (University of Pittsburgh)
Jorge Domínguez (Harvard University)
Mala Htun (New School University)
William LeoGrande (American University)
Carmelo Mesa-Lago (University of Pittsburgh)
Lisandro Pérez (Florida International University)
Jorge Pérez-Lopez (International Economist)
Marifeli Pérez-Stable (Florida International University)
Rafael Rojas (CIDE, Mexico, DF)