FLACSO-Cuba
Note on scope: FLACSO-Cuba operates within the constraints of a single-party state. Its research on Cuban governance is empirical and sometimes critical in tone, but it works within institutionally bounded space. It is included here as the primary academic body studying Cuba's Poder Popular system as a governance design — not as an independent watchdog, but as a source of substantive comparative governance research.
FLACSO-Cuba is the Cuban chapter of the Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO), housed at the University of Havana. It publishes research on Cuban political institutions, social policy, and governance — including empirical studies of the Poder Popular (People's Power) assembly system.
Cuba's Poder Popular system, established under the 1976 constitution and significantly revised in 2019, has architectural features that are genuinely studied as a distinct democratic model. At the municipal level, candidates are nominated directly by neighbourhood assemblies — not formally by the Communist Party of Cuba — and there is documented variation in who gets elected. The National Assembly exercises formal legislative authority. The 2022 Family Code, which passed by referendum with 67% approval (under single-party electoral conditions), is a concrete example of popular input on a contested legislative question.
FLACSO-Cuba's research engages these structures empirically rather than purely descriptively — examining participation rates, the role of municipal delegates, and the relationship between local and national governance bodies.
Links
- Website: flacso.uh.cu