Contents -- 1. Introduction -- Cuba as an Exception -- Neo- liberal Globalisation, Socialism and Anti- Imperialist State Resistance -- Implications for the State -- Social Consequences of the Global Trends -- Socialism in a Sea of Capitalism -- Marxist Socialism -- State Capitalism -- Implications for Studying Cuba -- The Party/ State Apparatus -- 2. Conceptualising Cuban Socialism: The Pillars of the Revolution -- The Causes of a Tardy Independence -- Roots of Nation- state Formation -- US Intervention and Neo- colonialism -- The First Labour Movement -- A Workers' Revolutionary Attempt -- An Alternative to the Workers' Movement -- 'Cuba Socialista' -- Economic Integration into the Soviet Bloc -- Unity, Continuity, State Supremacy and Popular Participation -- 3. The Causes and Impact of Cuba's Crisis in the 1990s -- The Background to the Crisis -- The Effects of Integration -- The Campaign to Rectify Errors and Negative Tendencies -- The Demise of the CMEA -- Cuba and the Fall of the Soviet Union -- The US Economic Embargo -- The State's Response and the Impact upon Cuba's Political System -- Foreign Direct Investment -- Signs of Slow Recovery -- 4. Structural Adjustments and Social Forces in Cuba: How Cuba™s Economic Model was Shaped by Global Trends -- Demonstrated Economic Growth -- Causes for Economic Growth -- Social Growth -- World Bank Development Reports and Other International Sources -- Cuba's Most Radical Change - Sistema de Perfeccionamiento Empresarial -- Cuentapropismo: The New Self- employment in Cuba -- New Structures -- New Structures and Social Bloc Formations -- Structural Changes and the Revolution's Identity -- 5. Conclusions and Considerations -- Shaky Pillars? -- Possible Future Scenarios -- A Disintegration of the Party/ State Apparatus? -- Maintaining Cuban Socialism -- Bibliography -- Index.