US-Cuban Relations: Before and After a Watershed Election

Relations between Cuba and the United States center around a fundamental contradiction: their respective national projects are incompatible. This contradictory core has shaped, shapes, and probably will continue to shape the dynamics of their interaction, with broad ramifications for the Western Hemisphere and beyond. I will examine the history of US policy towards the island, while exploring its development and conditioning factors since the Cuban Revolution of 1959. I will pay particular attention to the post-Cold War period up to and beyond the US presidential election of 2024, through the lenses of history and politics.

Ernesto Dominguez Lopez is a professor of history and political sciences at the Centre of Hemispheric and United States Studies at the University of Havana, Cuba. He has published widely on the history and politics of US-Cuban relations, US politics, international relations, political theory and theory of history. He has held visiting positions at universities and other academic institutions in the United States and Europe. He is currently Edward Larocq Tinker Visiting Professor at Stanford University, Honorary Visiting Professor at the University of Buckingham (UK) and Visiting Professor at the University of Sancti Spiritus (Cuba).

Livestream: tinyurl.com/11725lec

This event is cosponsored by the Stanford Cuba Observatory and the Department of History.