SOAS Research Online

Abstract

In the 1990s there emerged a consensus that political and economic changes in the relations between countries implied a narrowing scope of development alternatives in low and middle-income countries. Many governments pursued socialist-oriented development strategies in the 1970s and 1980s, but with the collapse of the ‘socialist camp’ and the end of the Cold War, the remaining socialist countries faced a new reality. They responded to the challenge by opening up their economies, facilitating foreign investment and introducing economic reforms. This book focuses on two of these countries and how their governments have dealt with the dramatically altered external environment: Cuba and Vietnam.