The Cuban Revolution as Socialist Human Development

Veltmeyer, (development studies, Universidad Autonoma de Zacatecas) and Rushton, a freelance consultant and former student in Veltmeyer's department, study the Cuban socialist revolution in the context of capitalist reform movements that stress "human development" especially in terms of economic freedom and growth. They argue that Cuba has broken many expectations by human development experts -- in terms of health-care and education -- by taking a socialist approach to human development that is not "based an individualistic social liberal view of humanity and society. Their study involves three parts: the deconstruction of human development as capitalist reform, the reconstruction of human development as socialist humanist project, and Cuba's challenges as "a socialist island in a sea of capitalism". They argue that capitalism can't provide the systemic requirements for human development -- in terms of equality, freedom and solidarity -- and that by looking the Cuban revolution we see how socialism at once clarifies and provides them. To that end, they stress the collective self-empowerment and egalitarian aspects of socialist human development. Their analysis is thoroughly Marxist, and written for those interested in international human development and political activists alike. Annotation c2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Henry Veltmeyer, PhD (1975) in Political Science, McMaster University, is Professor of Development Studies at the Universidad Autonoma de Zacatecas (Mexico) and Saint Mary’s University (Canada). He has published extensively on the political economy of globalization and developments in Latin America. Recent publications include The Critical Development Studies Handbook: Tools for Change.Mark Rushton, PhD (2010), in Development Studies, Universidad Autonoma de Zacatecas, is a freelance consultant, copyeditor, academic translator and author, with a specialist interest in Cuba and the development implications of information technology.