Cuba's constitutional history and the development of Cuban constitutionalism

This thesis examines Cuba’s long-neglected contemporary constitutional history as well as the political and societal implications arising therefrom. Despite the many political changes to the Cuban system over many decades, one factor that has remained constant is the lack of development of a fully i...

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Main Author: Hernandez, Arturo Felipe
Format: Thesis (University of Nottingham only)
Language:English
Published: 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/80763/
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author Hernandez, Arturo Felipe
author_facet Hernandez, Arturo Felipe
author_sort Hernandez, Arturo Felipe
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description This thesis examines Cuba’s long-neglected contemporary constitutional history as well as the political and societal implications arising therefrom. Despite the many political changes to the Cuban system over many decades, one factor that has remained constant is the lack of development of a fully independent and assertive judicial power that exercises control over constitutionality through the adoption, defense, and substantive utilization of strong judicial review during times of political crisis and social upheaval. This failure has led to the lack of development of constitutionalism as the rule of law, as well as to the predominance of the political or military sectors of government over the constitution and the law. In the end, this has resulted in governmental and political instability as well as the ineffectiveness of the law in actualizing and effectuating constitutional rights. Several key events in Cuba’s constitutional history are examined in order to demonstrate the tangible results of the Cuban Supreme Court’s failure to uphold the law and the constitution in times of crisis vis a vis the adoption and utilization of the doctrine of deconstitutionalization, as well as the ways that political and societal actors utilized those failures in order to gain control over the Cuban political system and achieve de jure status despite having usurped the Constitution in an extra-constitutional manner. Notwithstanding the many political and ideological changes to Cuban legal and political system since achieving independence, as well as the ideological paradigm shift following the Cuban Revolution of 1959, the legacy of political control over constitutionality and compromised constitutionalism persists even today.
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spelling nottingham-807632025-07-28T04:40:08Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/80763/ Cuba's constitutional history and the development of Cuban constitutionalism Hernandez, Arturo Felipe This thesis examines Cuba’s long-neglected contemporary constitutional history as well as the political and societal implications arising therefrom. Despite the many political changes to the Cuban system over many decades, one factor that has remained constant is the lack of development of a fully independent and assertive judicial power that exercises control over constitutionality through the adoption, defense, and substantive utilization of strong judicial review during times of political crisis and social upheaval. This failure has led to the lack of development of constitutionalism as the rule of law, as well as to the predominance of the political or military sectors of government over the constitution and the law. In the end, this has resulted in governmental and political instability as well as the ineffectiveness of the law in actualizing and effectuating constitutional rights. Several key events in Cuba’s constitutional history are examined in order to demonstrate the tangible results of the Cuban Supreme Court’s failure to uphold the law and the constitution in times of crisis vis a vis the adoption and utilization of the doctrine of deconstitutionalization, as well as the ways that political and societal actors utilized those failures in order to gain control over the Cuban political system and achieve de jure status despite having usurped the Constitution in an extra-constitutional manner. Notwithstanding the many political and ideological changes to Cuban legal and political system since achieving independence, as well as the ideological paradigm shift following the Cuban Revolution of 1959, the legacy of political control over constitutionality and compromised constitutionalism persists even today. 2025-07-28 Thesis (University of Nottingham only) NonPeerReviewed application/pdf en cc_by https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/80763/1/HERNANDEZ-ARTURO-20198512-AMENDED-THESIS.pdf Hernandez, Arturo Felipe (2025) Cuba's constitutional history and the development of Cuban constitutionalism. PhD thesis, University of Nottingham. cuba--constitutional history cuba--history cuba--politics and government cuban legal system
spellingShingle cuba--constitutional history
cuba--history
cuba--politics and government
cuban legal system
Hernandez, Arturo Felipe
Cuba's constitutional history and the development of Cuban constitutionalism
title Cuba's constitutional history and the development of Cuban constitutionalism
title_full Cuba's constitutional history and the development of Cuban constitutionalism
title_fullStr Cuba's constitutional history and the development of Cuban constitutionalism
title_full_unstemmed Cuba's constitutional history and the development of Cuban constitutionalism
title_short Cuba's constitutional history and the development of Cuban constitutionalism
title_sort cuba's constitutional history and the development of cuban constitutionalism
topic cuba--constitutional history
cuba--history
cuba--politics and government
cuban legal system
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/80763/