Cuba has always found itself, or placed itself, in the most unusual circumstances. It was among the last of the Western Hemisphere countries to win independence (or at least nominal independence) from the Spanish. It was in part because such independence was largely nominal, hegemony having been passed to the United States that Cuba in 1959 began to experience one of the most thorough-going revolutions the world had seen. And Cuba has held onto its revolutionary profile long after most other governments so assembled have abandoned revolutionary rhetoric as well as revolutionary inclusiveness. As a consequence of that extraordinary history, Cuba has much to teach about the costs and benefits of revolution and also the costs and benefits of integrating belatedly a now globalized economy. Having been stripped time and again of capital and of markets, Cuba also has much to teach about self-help – about what communities can do for themselves when they have no other recourse. And the nature of the relationship between Cuba and the United States – the relentless continuity despite dramatic change in the world around them – gives away the predominance in both countries of domestic interests and domestic politics in the design and execution of foreign policy. This narrative will be explored further with an on-site course this spring that will offered to students from all MIIS schools and programs and from Middlebury College. The onsite portion of the course will take place this January and will include visits to various Cuban ministries, including those of foreign affairs and tourism, offices of the United Nations Development Program and other IGOs and NGOs, and sites of historic events, including the Bay of Pigs and the Museum of the Revolution.
