ABSTRACT
During the Cold War, Cuba was a significant actor on the world stage. But by the early 1990s, its international role had been reduced to that of a small and unusually isolated country struggling for survival. To face up to the new circumstances, the Cuban government has repositioned its foreign policy. Except for the continuing adversarial relationship with the United States and residual aspects of its relations with Russia, Cuba's current foreign policy is not markedly different from that of other Caribbean islands. Only in Cuba and in East Asia have Communist regimes survived, and only Cuba and North Korea have attempted to retain political structures nearly intact. The Cuban government's promotion of the tourist industry by means of joint ventures with foreign firms represented a double about-face: the welcome to tourism and the welcome to private foreign investment.
