Malinowitz Stanley: Popular Power?

Despite being the focus of decentralization and popular participation strategies since the mid- 1970s, the consumer service sector in Cuba is considered one of the most inefficient areas of the economy and a source of widespread dissatisfaction, while social services, also decentralized, are among the most successful. This study examines the municipal service enterprises and the local Popular Power government institutions that run them, with respect to problems of local self-management within a highly centralized economy and to the forms, scope, and limits of popular participation. The effects of economic crisis and restructuring since the 1990s are also considered. A case study of one municipality is presented along with analysis of official documents and secondary sources by Cuban and foreign researchers. The book should be of interest to professionals and students in economics and other social sciences like sociology, political science, and geography who are interested in Cuba, socialism, decentralization, participation, consumption and consumer services, and issues of spaciality and social reproduction in political economy.