Cuba-US: The December 17 Agreement in the Rationale of Asymmetric Relations

Abstract

Disparity is the distinctive feature of Cuban-US relations. Power asymmetry is not limited to differences in capacities but also involves systemic differences in the ways states assess security risks and define their interests and perceptions. As Brantly Womack (2006) explains, “mutual perceptions and interactions in an asymmetric relation will be fundamentally shaped by the differences of opportunity and vulnerability each side confronts. In effect, the relationship of A and B is best viewed as a set of two very different sub relations, A → b and b →A” (pp. 17–18). In the case of Cuba and the United States, the latter country plans and discusses its foreign policy strategy as a Great Power, while the former does so as a small, vulnerable, and developing state.