This book interprets the events and trends constituting U.S. relations with Cuba between 1952 and 1980 with a view toward elaborating the notion of the imperial state – a state with boundaries for capital accumulation located far beyond its geographic limits. I attempt to explicate the involvement and effectiveness of the United States as an imperial state in prerevolutionary Cuba and how the United States responded to the fundamental challenge to capital accumulation embodied in the Cuban Revolution.

The central focus of this enquiry is the evolution, implementation, and consequences of U.S. imperial-state policy toward Cuba since 1952. The success or failure of this policy are evaluated at different historical moments, distinguishing between particular policies as they were initially conceived and their eventual outcomes: The hopes of U.S. policymakers are measured against their actual achievements. Underlying this emphasis is the question of the capacity – the available resources and instruments – to execute each policy.

This first chapter describes the imperial state, the origins of the U.S. imperial state, the processes by which the United States promotes and sustains conditions for worldwide capital accumulation, and the nature of capitalist-class influence over the making of state policy. A discussion of the policymaking process is important for what it reveals about the complexity of the distinct, but interdependent, agencies that compose the imperial-state framework. The chapter concludes with an overview of the history of U.S.-Cuban relations that further illustrates the notion of the imperial state and enhances our comprehension of U.S. policy toward Cuba after 1952.