Harvard Professor’s Recent Book Describes Changes in Cuban Society

After spending his professional life at Harvard University, Professor Jorge I. Dominguez retired as the chair of the Harvard Academy for International and Area Studies. A widely published author, Jorge I. Dominguez has also edited many volumes, such as Social Policies and Decentralization in Cuba: Change in the Context of 21st Century Latin America.

Published by the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies in 2017, the 282-page book looks at Cuba’s tradition of innovative social policies. After Fidel Castro took power in 1959, the nation launched governmental action to improve health care, provide for higher education, protect the environment, and address economic inequality.

The dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 drained funds from these initiatives. Earning disparities and poverty have grown, while medical care has become harder to obtain. Rather than privatize these services, the state has attempted to share responsibility with non-governmental agencies.

The book’s authors examine how the policies of other Latin American nations may benefit Cuba. Chapters cover topics such as employment, remittances (monies sent back home by individuals working outside Cuba), and transferring control of services from the central government to cities.