ABSTRACT
Introduction The end of the cold war brought with it the demise and transformation of the communist bloc led by the former Soviet Union. Indeed, after August 1991 only a handful of communist states remained in the international system and even fewer maintained their confrontational relationship with the United States. Two such states, Cuba and North Korea, had depended heavily on support in the form of economic aid and political backing from the Soviet empire during the cold war. With the breakdown of the Soviet Union, this support system quickly dried up: the economies of Cuba and North Korea declined significantly, and the leaders of these states became politically isolated.
