The special period in Cuban history (1991-2000)
The modern socio-economic model of Cuba is a unique example of an attempt to build a welfare state in extremely unfavorable conditions. Over the course of 30 years, since the collapse of the USSR and the socialist bloc, Cuban society has undergone several major transformations, the most radical were the reforms of Raul Castro, which began in 2008 and were finally enshrined in the new constitution 11 years later. In this article, the author puts forward a hypothesis that these reforms are not something qualitatively new, but rather reflect the accelerating pace of transformations that were laid back during the "special period in peacetime", the most critical stage in the adaptation of Cuban society to new foreign economic and foreign policy realities. The author analyzes the key features of the economic policy of the Cuban government during this period, as well as its specific features in comparison with the neoliberal reforms that became mainstream for the post-soviet states.