Peter Roman
![People's Power: Cuba's Experience With Representative Government (Latin American Perspectives Series) Peter Roman]( "People's Power: Cuba's Experience With Representative Government (Latin American Perspectives Series) Peter Roman")
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By: Westview Press
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2
Average rating: 4.5 of 5
A great introduction to Cuba's political system 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.
I bought this book because I am interested in the political and economic history of Cuba. After reading dozens of books on Cuba (both in favor and against), I believe this one is one that all scholars on the genre should have.
It is very common to find scholar books on Cuba with a political bias in them. Most books I have read are negative towards Cuba's democratization. Most people believe that Cuba is a totalitarian state, however Roman disproves this political myth. Cuba has been going through a democratization process since 1959. It has made various changes to the Constitution to further push their democratization.
Dr. Roman introduces the reader to the political system of Cuba by first describing the grassroots, or local, political structures, its functions, services, and relationship to the public citizenry. He then takes the reader through a historical analysis of Cuba's democratic heritage. The chapters that follow are related to each other in that they each continue to describe the political structure of Cuba and the role of the constituents and the politicians.
Roman assures us that Cuba has had a tradition of the "mandat imperatif" (instructed delagate); that the constituents have a close relationship with their political representative; that constituents can recall their representatives at any time; political transparency is also existent because the constituents can attend public meetings to hear about their representatives work in progress.
Although I believe this book is of great importance to students, scholars and lay readers interested in Cuba's political system, Roman's writing can get boring and confusing at times. Confusing, perhaps should be directed at the fact that he is describing a political system, thus the writing can get boring or long. The writing is in small font and the chapters can get long, but I still recommend this book because it is unique in its own field. I don't know, or I am not aware, of any other scholar book that makes an objective description and analysis of Cuba's political system.
Editorial Review:
People’s Power is a theoretical and historical account of representative government in Cuba. It explains how the Cuban model was built on the theoretical foundations set in Rousseau, Marx, and Lenin, and the historical precedents of the Paris Commune, the 1905 and 1917 soviets, and the pre- and post-Stalin years of the Soviet Union. It encompasses the institution of the Organs of People’s Power in 1974, through the changes brought by the 1992 Constitution and election law, to the present. The book’s primary focus is on the municipal level, but it also contains important material on the national and provincial elected bodies. People’s Power also explores firsthand the more recent people’s councils and workers’ parliaments.
