Democracy
Since the time Fidel Castro came to power, the Cuban Government has been condemned by certain Cuban groups, some international groups, and foreign governments for engaging in activities labeled by some as undemocratic. The United States Government has initiated various policy measures; these have been ostensibly designed to encourage Cuba to undertake political change towards a multi-party electoral system. These plans have been condemned by the Cuban Government, who accuses the United States of meddling in Cuba's affairs. The distinct nature of political participation in Cuba has also fostered discussion amongst political writers and philosophers. Varied conclusions have been drawn, some of these have led to Cuba being described as a dictatorship, a totalitarian state, a grassroots democracy, a centralized democracy or a revolutionary democracy.
Cuba is the only "authoritarian regime" in the Americas, according to the 2010 Democracy Index. Cuba's extensive censorship system was close to North Korea on the 2008 Press Freedom Index. The media is operated under the Communist Party’s Department of Revolutionary Orientation, which "develops and coordinates propaganda strategies". According to Maria Werlau, the extreme concentration of power to Castro family seems comparable in modern times only to that of North Korea under the regimes of Kim Jong Il and Kim Il Sung.
Read more about this topic: Politics Of Cuba
Famous quotes containing the word democracy:
“No democracy can long survive which does not accept as fundamental to its very existence the recognition of the rights of minorities.”
—Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945)
“We have been weakened in our resistance to the professional anti-Communists because we know in our hearts that our so-called democracy has excluded millions of citizens from a normal life and the normal American privileges of health, housing and education.”
—Agnes E. Meyer (1887–1970)
“A monarchy is like a man-of-war—bad shots between wind and water hurt it exceedingly; there is a danger of capsizing. But democracy is a raft. You cannot easily overturn it. It is a wet place, but it is a pretty safe one.”
—Flavius Josephus Cook (1838–1901)