Social policies and decentralization in Cuba : change in the context of 21st-century Latin America / edited by Jorge I. Domínguez [and three others].

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Domínguez, Jorge I., 1945- editor.

Series:

David Rockefeller Center series on Latin American studies, Harvard University

The David Rockefeller Center series on Latin American studies, Harvard University

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Social policy.

History.

Decentralization in government.

Social change.

Cuba--Social policy--History--21st century.

Cuba.

Social change--Cuba--History--21st century.

Decentralization in government--Cuba--History--21st century.

Cuba--Social conditions--1990-.

Social conditions.

Latin America--Social policy--History--21st century.

Latin America.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

x, 277 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm.

Distribution:

Cambridge, Massachusetts ; London, England : Harvard University Press, [2017]

Place of Publication:

[Cambridge, Massachusetts] : Harvard University, David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, [2017]

Summary:

Cuba has long been a social policy pioneer in Latin America. Since the 1959 revolution, its government has developed ambitious social policies to address health care, higher education, employment, the environment, and broad social inequalities, among other priorities. Cuban strategies emphasized universal rights and benefits, provided free of financial cost to users, and implemented under centralized and unitary policy design. Following the Soviet Union?s collapse in 1991, funds for these policies came under strain, although systematic efforts have been made to sustain them. Poverty rates and inequality have risen. Access to higher education has become more difficult. Access to health care has become less reliable. Environmental policies are both more salient and more difficult to sustain. The government has resisted privatization policies, but has sought to decentralize the implementation of various policies, fostering non-state cooperatives as well. At the same time, many Latin American governments have experimented with new social policies that, in this century, reduced poverty rates significantly and in some countries somewhat reduced various inequalities. Still facing severe economic challenges, Cuba may look to learn from the policies of its Latin American neighbors, in some instances for the first time ever. This book analyzes these issues comparatively and in depth.

Contents:

1 Introduction: Social Policy and Economic Change in Cuba / Jorge I. Domínguez Domínguez, Jorge I. 1

I Deliberating over Social Policy

2 Alternative Development and Alternatives to Development: The Decentralization Process in Contemporary Cuba / Geydis Elena Fundora Nevot Nevot, Geydis Elena Fundora 25

3 Social Inequalities: Sites of Transformation for Community Actors and Social Policy / María del Carmen Zabala Argüelles Argüelles, María del Carmen Zabala 57

II Experimenting with Organizational Designs

4 Municipalization and Social Policy in Cuba / Mayra Espina Prieto Prieto, Mayra Espina 87

5 Nonfarm Cooperatives in the Current Cuban Context: Challenges and Perspectives / Reynaldo Jiménez Guethón Guethón, Reynaldo Jiménez, Niurka Padrón Sánchez Sánchez, Niurka Padrón 115

III Social Policy Issue Areas: Education, Health Care, and Environment

6 Education and Employment in Cuba: Congruity or Disequilibrium? The First Fifteen Years of the Twenty-First Century / Dayma Echevarría León León, Dayma Echevarría, Mayra Tejuca Martínez Martínez, Mayra Tejuca 139

7 Looking at Health Care in Cuba: Social Policy in a Context of Widening Social Inequality / Susset Fuentes Reverón Reverón, Susset Fuentes 173

8 Environmental Policy and Management of Water Resources: Challenges and Perspectives / Marta Rosa Muñoz Campos Campos, Marta Rosa Muñoz 199

IV The Latin American Social Policy Context

9 The Impact of Remittances on Poverty and Inequality for Cuba: Lessons from Latin America / Lorena G. Barberia Barberia, Lorena G. 221

10 The Micro-Foundations of Non-Contributory Social Policy in Latin America / Soledad Artiz Prillaman Prillaman, Soledad Artiz 249.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN:

9780674975309

0674975308

OCLC:

990126109