History // Should the economic embargo of Cuba be lifted?
[Name of Student]
[Instructor’s Name]
[The Class Title]
[Date]
Should the economic embargo of Cuba be lifted?
Since 1962, when President John F. Kennedy proclaimed the economic embargo between United States and Cuba due to the threat posed of its alliance with Communism in Eastern Europe, Cuba was forced to begin economic reform (Porotsky 901). Over five decades, despite several United Nations resolutions, United States government retained its stand to make the country isolated economically in a way to destabilize the regime and deprive it of resources.
In the light of pressing economic and social problems, it is argued that the major reason of country’s less development is due to rigidity in diversifying its political and economy – characterized by freedom of government in expanding fiscal categories involving effects in taxation and public spending. There are number of ways that a country could do better in establishing as a global competitor and ‘regional model’ from among other countries in terms of economic and political freedom. Managing global power, the state highlight the balancing of level with fast-growing ‘emerging’ markets, giving weight to issue of spreading the spirit of democracy, featuring the philosophy of foreign policy, considering the competitive advantage of the nation with regard to its interaction in the age of non-polarity, including relations between the state and corporations and managing geopolitics of energy or other scarce natural resources of Cuba.
Another reason for less development is due to poor government policy. Cuba government had experienced economic crisis – characterized by high inflation, low productivity and recurring balance of payments deficits – with zero population growth, retrenched and economized social services and equal opportunity that resulted to loss of faith in the government. Davies cites that such aftermath was reflected by political parties’ intervention particularly the labor party’s ideology (90). Blatant sense of economic underperformance subscribed Cuba’s chronic deficits and fiscal crisis at large, creating community affairs at high-risk and uninspiring low growth of urbanized society. However, political intervention was also the reason for the rise of Cuba’s foreign policy.
In the 1990s, government formulated foreign policy that highlights high priority to strengthen relations and cooperation with Asian countries (López 51) and reinforced more pragmatic and realistic approaches to governments rather than moralistic perspectives with reference to human rights issues. Moreover, alliance of Cuba government with National Party has created foreign policy to focus on basic interests of the nation such as security and trade. In turn, the cutting-edge liberalizing economic reforms have directed the country’s government to explore the hazards of making culture an unequivocal basis for legislation (López 43) and advancing the ideals of small, weak, and isolated nation established political division.
In a speech delivered on the Lincoln Day in the year 1950 to the audience of the Republican Women’s Club located in Wheeling West Virginia, Eugene McCarthy explained that the enemy within making country less developing is due to communism (McCarthy, 1950). He also mentioned the mortal threat posed by the Soviet Union to the values and national security of the United States especially after the fall of China to communism. Furthermore, he also discussed the reason why Congress is not doing anything about dishonesty, graft and corruption, disloyalty and treason committed by the enemies. In particular, he pointed out this adversity due to the fact that these enemies are the ones who gave them the existing power that they are enjoying. They are more influential and affluent than these officials who even ask for support during elections especially if they cannot fund their candidacy.
It is undeniable that the enemies are also the ones who make the funding of these political leaders in their bid to be elected and are also one of the beneficiaries from the unlawful and corrupt deeds of the enemies within the system (McCarthy 190). It may be denied by the Congress but it is in fact undeniable. Treasons committed by influential people are allowed to let pass while if it is committed by ordinary people, it is justified to show the public that the government is doing their job in protecting people when in fact, the public is not even secured from the most dangerous enemies who are not even identified.
To be specific, the country traded and established quotas with neighboring countries in Asia for the purpose of private investments, reparations and technical assistance programs. Additionally, the country was highly committed for arrangements of bilateral economic agreements with various countries in Asia (Davies 74). The growth of foreign trade, the economy is benefiting with the trade surpluses provided by its exports that generated revenues for the government, in which reveals a negative correlation between inflation variability and central bank independence. It has emphasized a near perfect negative relationship between inflation and central bank independence. The degree that high inflation has unfavorable effects on monetary performance either by generating distortions, promoting charge seeking activity, or by elevating risk, one would suppose central bank independence to advance economic performance. As is often recommended most U.S. recessions result from the Federal Reserve cracking down on inflation after it has been permitted to augment above the anticipated, one might anticipate that more constantly inflation-reluctant policy would be connected with less unpredictable economic performance. Hence, why the need to lift up the economic embargo of Cuba if United States can retain its political and economic power?
Works Cited
Davies, Catherine. “Surviving (on) the ‘Soup of Signs’: Postmodernism, Politics and Culture in Cuba.” Cultural Politics in Latin America. Palgrave Macmillan UK, 2000. 74-92.
López, Juan J. “Implications of the US economic embargo for a political transition in Cuba.” Cuban Studies (1999): 40-69.
McCarthy, J., (1950). Joseph McCarthy on the Threat of Communism. Retrieved 20 February 2017 from http://www.historytools.org/sources/mccarthy.pdf
Porotsky, Richard D. “Economic coercion and the general assembly: a post-Cold War assessment of the legality and utility of the thirty-five-year old embargo against Cuba.” Vand. J. Transnat’l L. 28 (1995): 901.
2017/5032
