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Discuss cuban revolution
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Discuss cuban revolution
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This part of the study indicates the three major factors that made Cuba choose to stay communist other than liberalizing the state. Cases and evidences are elaborated in this section for a more translucent research.
Fidel Castro’s Charismatic Authority
One of the factors that greatly pushed Communism to rule in Cuba is the personal charisma of the former President Fidel Castro. This characteristic is traceable from when he was still a child, and has remained with him until his venerable days. Growing up in a private Catholic school, Castro was influenced with a lot of Spanish values instilling in him the sense of discipline, dedication, and assertiveness. These three values combined together are classified as to be Charisma.
Charismatic Authority
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“Charismatic authority is rooted in the belief system of the followers rather than in some transcendental characteristics of the leader. When no one is disposed or able to believe in the omnipotence omniscience, and moral perfection of the leader, he cannot be said to exercise charismatic authority no matter how strong, wise, or moral he perceives himself to be.” (Fagen, 1965)
In a survey that was conducted by Lloyd Free in Cuba in April and May 1960, 86% of the 500 respondents from Havana were in favor of Fidel Castro’s regime. Another survey was conducted by Free in the rural and other areas of Cuba where 43% of the 500 respondents were said to be fervent supporters of Fidel Castro. With the given statistics, it is inviolable that Fidel Castro is being supported by the majority of the citizens of Cuba. (Fagen, 1965)
2. “An ‘individual personality’ or leader capable of generating a charismatic authority relationship in one context may fail completely to generate that relationship in some other context. There are no universal charismatics. This is clearly a corollary of the first proposition and suggests that the set of followers is always bounded by at least two factors. There are some who are never reached physically by the messages of the leader and remain at best what shall be called potential followers. And there are others who, although reached, do not for a variety of reasons respond in the prescribed manner. These individuals are called the non-followers.” (Fagen,
Fidel Castro entered Havana, Cuba and took his place as Prime Minister in January of 1959, just after the fall of the Batista regime. Within days, many of the Cuban upper class began exiting the island, wary of losing their socioeconomic status and possibly their lives (Leonard 13). Castro’s radical new policies appealed to most of the suppressed lower class seeking change, but the middle sector “became disillusioned with their new leader” and soon comprised the majority of the Cuban refugees in Miami, Florida (Leonard 3). Beginning in December 1960 and ending with the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962, over 14,000 of those refugees wou...
Little by little, the free people of Cuba came to realize it could happen there. The grim facts of life on an island that became a police state” (Frankel 59). Every day, Castro came closer to controlling every aspect of life in Cuba. Fidel Castro even took control of the schools in Cuba, throwing out any teacher who he thought might be “disloyal” or disagreeing with Communism.... ... middle of paper ...
The evolution of religion in Cuba, after Castro’s insurrection in 1959, has included much suppression by its proclaimed atheist, communistic government. There are several reasons that account for why this suppression has occurred, coupled by a recent trend (beginning in the late 1980s) of a religious revival, and more importantly, a growing Christian population within Cuban society. This growing spirituality can be attributed to many aspects of the Cuban economy and society. Also, it is important to observe how Castro’s negation of religious and human rights was perceived by Pope John Paul II during his pilgrimage to Cuba in January of 1998. The suppression which has existed in post-revolutionary Cuba has not necessarily subsided, rather it has been manifested to suit the political desires of Cuba’s pontiff, Fidel Castro.
In 1961, Fidel Castro, Cuba’s dictator, introduced the Marxist-Leninist ideology to the Cuban people, “by grafting it onto the images, symbols, values, and concepts of Cuban nationalism” (Medin 53). This ideology was promoted through what Medin describes as a world where there are no "in-betweens," but instead only "good and evil", and any straying from that perceived norm was seen as counter-revolutionary and must be removed so they wouldn’t corrupt the process of developing a “homogenous revolutionary social consciousness” (Morales-Diaz 1). “The notion of ‘counter-revolutionaries’ and the connection to capitalist nations epitomizes the revolutionary government's contempt for anyone who is not on the side of the communist revolution" (Medin 40). In that way, Castro was creating enemies of any Cubans who weren’t up to his standards. According to Arenas, this new idea of unifying Cuba came at the expense of the persecution of a large segment of the population an...
Cuba’s unpredictable shift toward socialism and its growing dependence on the Soviet Union divided both the leadership and the country at large. With a relationship dating back to before Fidel Castro’s installment into power, Russia and Cuba have both played major roles in the development and regression of each other’s economies and societies.
Cuba's political history carries a pattern: when the masses are disillusioned by the current ruler, they turn to a young, strong-willed leader-of-the-people as their new ruler, only to become disillusioned to that ruler when he becomes too oppressive. It has seemed a never- ending cycle. Batista and Castro were both well-regarded leaders initially who appealed strongly to the masses and common citizen. Later, both established dictatorships and lost the support of many of those that they governed. Castro and Batista are each guilt of repression and corruption within their governments. For example, at some point under each regime, the constitution was either suspended or not followed at all. Castro did, though, make one very important contribution to Cuba's political system: Socialism. For the first time, Castro and Che Guevara a socialist plan called the New Man theory which called for developing an ideology amongst citizens that would call for working not for personal enrichment, but for social betterment.
There may be some question over Fidel Castro’s achievements in providing economic success, or democracy to Cuba in the last forty five years or so. However Cuba’s record on providing egalitarian health care and education to the masses have generally been agreed as a success story, even by Castro’s old enemy the United States. “To be educated is to be free,” (Marti in Marshall, 1987, p146) has become one of the more popular revolutionary slogans and has been greatly adhered to by Castro’s government. While health care is articulated in the 1975 Cuban constitution as being “the right of all and the responsibility of the state” (Feinsilver, 1993, p26). The social political stance of Castro’s government has been the driving force behind the success in health care and education. Issues such as housing, employment, health care and education are viewed as a basic human right and are in theory guaranteed by the state to all. In Cuba, health care indicators are also seen as a measure of the government’s efficiency and performance. Other socialist states that have come and gone over the last century have also professed to put these issues at the forefront of priority. States such as Russia and China have to a lesser or greater degree failed to provide the standard of services provided in Cuba. “Until 1969 China’s health care system served only the urban population, which represented about 15 percent of the total population” (Feinsilver, 1993, p2). There are certainly factors that make this comparison unfair but Cuba’s achievements in providing these social services are still quite remarkable given its economic position. By truly placing education and healthcare as one of the fundamental priorities of the revolution, and developing specific programs and initiatives to deal with these two social issues, Cuba managed to succeeded where others more wealthy nations failed. The use of popular participation and central government control also were powerful tools in implementing these social policies. It would now be useful to look at some of these initiatives that have been taken by the Cuban government that enabled it to equal if no surpass education and health standards in many developed countries.
Fidel Castro has most certainly been a controversial dictator during his reign in Cuba. His regime has made quite the infamous name for itself during the sixties. When news spread of his, for some, long anticipated death, some were riddled with joy and took to the streets with celebration. Others were solemn for the fall of an impactful leader. However, no one could deny that he left a legacy. Majority of what we hear about Fidel Castro in the United States is negative, seeing that Fidel ousted United States backed dictator Batista and positioned himself against the United States throughout much of his time in power. It shouldn’t be forgotten that Fidel has done pretty indefensible things while in charge but he also is not totally devoid of
Fidel Castro was a man who had a target on his head. Lots of people from all over the world wanted him dead. Fidel Castro wasn’t a capitalist person, he was a Communist.
... the majority of which sought refuge in the United States. With the fall of the Soviet Union, Cuba now stands at a crossroads. The battle cry has changed from “ Socialism or death to Resist, struggle and win” (Castro’s Cuba II). Hopefully, Castro and/or Cuba will not be forced into a market-based economy and all the materialistic commodities that go along with capitalism. In my opinion, Castro should hold out for as long as possible griping to the former battle cry “Socialism or death”. Only time will tell what the fate of Castro’s Cuba will be. Trade might once again flourish the economy, tourism might open up new economic opportunities and foreign investments from Italy, France and Spain could possibly dig Cuba out the current economic hole it’s in. Until then however, the battle against capitalism must not lose any of its vigor.
The political leaders of Cuba and China gained support by attracting specific types of followers, motivation and the utilization of propaganda. These leaders had campaigns targeting specific types of people to help gain power and to get support for their revolutionary ideas. The same mindset was in place when these leaders used propaganda and used their own motivation to get into people’s heads. The leader of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, Mao Zedong, campaigned and targeted the younger generation of society.
Castro’s involvement with the foreign and domestic politics during the early Cold War period greatly influenced the outcome of the Cuban Revolution. Without the actions taken by foreign powers like the United States and Russia, some events on the domestic front may have had very different results. It is important to understand how every nation’s foreign policies can influence more than just one other nation, and this was especially true for Cuba. It was because of these events that produced the communist Cuba that we are familiar with today.
To answer the question that is Fidel Castro a charismatic, first of all, we need to define the word “charismatic”. The influential sociologist Max Weber states three authorities in his study. According to Dana Williams’ article “Max Weber: Traditional, Legal-Rational, and Charismatic Authority”, which says “Charismatic authority is found in a leader whose mission and vision inspire others. It is based upon the perceived extraordinary characteristics of an individual”. Given the definition, one can definitely say that Fidel Castro is a charismatic because he is creation of his followers, he regards himself as elected from above to fulfill a mission and his behavior of a leader in power is anti-bureaucratic. People praised him as the big beard
Leadership can be traced back to many ideologies over the history of time. There have been individuals that have achieved great success and accomplishments through inspiring others to believe and follow their leadership. This paper will explain some of the theories that philosophically explain how those great people inspired others to believe in their vision and goals.