Institutionalization process

This article is about soviet-inspired reforms in Cuba. For an interpretation of their Soviet influence, see Sovietization of Cuba.
Institutionalization process
1976–1986
Fidel Castro at the first congress of the Communist Party of Cuba.
LocationCuba
IncludingGrey years
Leader(s)Fidel Castro
Key events1976 Cuban constitutional referendum
Chronology
Revolutionary Offensive Rectification process class-skin-invert-image

The institutionalization process, sometimes more formally referred to as the "process of institutionalization", or the "institutionalization of the Cuban Revolution", was a series of political reforms, typically identified by historians as to have taken place between 1976 and 1985, although sometimes identified as having begun in 1970.[1][2][3] This process was proceeded by a period of government that was directly managed by Fidel Castro without much input from other officials, which had been status-quo since the conclusion of the Cuban Revolution.[3] The institutionalization process was also proceeded by a deepening of Cuba-Soviet relations in the early 1970s, which had soured before in the 1960s.[4]

Institutionalization was kickstarted by the first official congress of the Communist Party of Cuba in December 1975. The meeting approved the development of a "System of Direction for Economic Planning" (SDPE), which was modeled on soviet economic planning and prioritized profit making. The implementation of the SDPE took ten years.[5] In 1976, a new constitution was also approved. The constitution was modeled off the Soviet system, and introduced the National Assembly of People's Power as the institution of indirect representation in government.[6]

Scholars Emily J. Kirk, ‎Anna Clayfield, ‎Isabel Story, have commented that the "institutionalization" periodization is hazy. While the adoption of a new constitution in 1976 is considered a hallmark of the "institutionalization" phase, there is no universally accepted date range as to when the "institutionalization" phase truly began, and when it truly ended. What is clear is that the "institutionalization" phase was generally concluded to have ended by the Rectification process in 1986.[7]

  1. ^ Perna, Vincenzo (2017). Timba: The Sound of the Cuban Crisis. Taylor and Francis. p. 20. ISBN 9781351539081.
  2. ^ The History of Physics in Cuba. Springer Netherlands. 2014. p. 175. ISBN 9789401780414.
  3. ^ a b Ruffin, Patricia (2016). Capitalism and Socialism in Cuba A Study of Dependency, Development and Underdevelopment. Palgrave Macmillan UK. p. 165. ISBN 9781349208050.
  4. ^ Bain (2008). Russian-Cuban Relations Since 1992 Continuing Camaraderie in a Post-Soviet World. Lexington Books. p. 30. ISBN 9780739130056.
  5. ^ Louis Horowitz, Irving (1995). Cuban Communism/8th Editi. Transaction Publishers. p. 293. ISBN 9781412820899.
  6. ^ Kapcia, Antoni (2008). Cuba in Revolution A History Since the Fifties. Reaktion Books. p. 1935. ISBN 9781861894489.
  7. ^ Cuba's Forgotten Decade How the 1970s Shaped the Revolution. Lexington Books. 2018. p. 9. ISBN 9781498568746.