“Flicking the Eagle's Feathers”?
“Flicking the Eagle's Feathers”?
Cuba, Revolution, and the International System
Seeking a path of inquiry somewhere between the structuralist approaches of revolutionary theorists and the more precise views of historians of Cuba, this chapter considers the Cuban Revolution not as a national issue, nor as a Latin American issue, nor even as an episode of Cuban-U.S. relations, but as an international issue with global ramifications. In so doing, it raises compelling questions about the nature of the international system, the place of revolutionary states, and the particular legacy of the Cuban revolutionary experiment. Candace Sobers suggests that by making an explicit commitment to internationalism, and by deliberately positioning itself as a model of third world revolution, the Cuban Revolution drew and maintained the heightened attention, and in some cases ire, of the international community. First, the postwar international system and the nature of revolutions is considered, locating the Cuban experience firmly within the catalogue of twentieth-century revolutionary movements; second, the principle of internationalism, and in particular, Cuban revolutionary socialist internationalism, is investigated; third, the 1975 Cuban intervention in Angola is pointed to as a key example of internationalism in action.
Keywords: Cuba, Angola, revolution, revolutionary, experiment, internationalism, legacy, socialist, intervention, international community
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