The greening of the revolution: Changing state views on nature and development in Cuba’s transforming socialism

Abstract

In the early 1990s, in the midst of the deepest economic crisis in its recent history, President Fidel Castro proclaimed sustainable development as the new guiding principle for Cuba. This would prove to be a wise move in the context of crisis management.This article explores the shift in Cuba’s state visions of nature and development, which occurred in the wake of the deep crisis unfolding after the breakdown of the Eastern Bloc, on which Cuba heavily depended. This vital threat to the country’s socialist system necessitated far-reaching economic and social policy adjustments, resulting in painful consequences for its citizens. The measures taken in the so-called Special Period demanded a new development vision for their legitimation. The Castro government developed a reformed socialist development model, shifting away from the ideal of Soviet model catch-up modernisation and its instrumental view on nature, towards the paradigm of sustainable development. Based on the analysis of 55 speeches made by Fidel Castro between 1959 and 1996, this radical change in views on nature and development is analysed. This paradigm shift served several political purposes and helped the Cuban leadership navigate through the crisis of the 1990s.