Civil action, consent, and contestation : Cuban politics in the "special period"

The effects of economic recession and the reforms of the last decade have engendered large macro-social changes in Cuban society, in particular heightening the contradictions between experiences of the market and a socialist society. This thesis investigates how Cuban citizens negotiate these contradictions between lived experiences of socialism and market practices. I argue that Cuban citizens operate as members of a socialist civil sphere that cultivates networks of cooperation and survival as well as having an effect on state politics and policy