In the mid-1980s Cuba began a process of rectificacion - a reform process that has bucked the trends of economic and political liberalization that are reshaping the global order. Sustaining an official commitment to socialism in the face of economic crisis and international pressures, Cuba's survival seems puzzling indeed. Sheryl Lutjens uses the Cuban experience as a context for investigating the problematic of democracy and democratic change.

Identifying bureaucratic domination as a problem for democracy in all modern states, Lutjens turns to an examination of Cuban schools to explore questions of bureaucracy and participation.

Exploring development and reform in the Cuban state, Lutjens looks at the effects of strong centralization in education policy, the central place of education in the economic and political goals of the revolution, and the extensive postrevolutionary experience with local participation in the educational system.

She argues that the Cuban experience with schools and educational performance suggests that scholars can break through traditional categories and concepts if they take into account the participation of ordinary people.