Introduction
There has been a cold war between the United States and Cuba since the island was under the rule of Spaniards. In the 1960s, all the US businesses in Cuba were nationalized without any compensation and the US government broke the diplomatic relations with Havana and imposed a trade embargo in response to the Castro's reforms. The Spaniards did not have good relations with the US government and left Cuba with the fear that it might be attacked by the US (Husain 24). The American trade embargo was later made permanent in response to the shooting down of US aircraft that was operated by Miami-based Cuban exiles.
Explanatory theories
Theory of rational or optimum arms races
The theory asserts that states does the international environment present unitary actors whose behaviors are guided by constraints and opportunities. It makes the role of information explicit and the others' motives in defining the international context and influences the magnitude of the security dilemma (Glaser 7). The theory provides answers to structural realism, offensive realism, and how a state can adopt arming policies for its security. It assesses the military ability to perform and the combination of factors like power and offense-defense variables. It also considers how much benefits a country gets from increasing armament about power.
Contingent realism theory
This argument makes clear that the standard of the structural-realist claims about states’ competitive military policies is not plausible. Structural realism plays a good role of explaining the cold war, but it is severely challenged as the cold war ends, and it runs counter to the theory's supposed prediction of competitiveness. It focuses on state's behavior and particularly features of its leaders (Glaser 19). It holds that during the cold war a state tends to increase security by increasing armament.
During the said period, the Cuban government's economy was not in a position to sustain a war with the United States. However, the conflicts between the two countries were in the old cold war terms and both governments assembled arms and trained more army. For instance, Cuba behaved like a backlash state that not only spied on the military secrets and trafficking arms with China but also supporting terrorists like Colombian guerrillas (Van Dijk 9). Cuba received assistance regarding technology and weapons from ‘backlash-states' such as Iran, Iraq, and Libya that were mostly the rivals or enemies of the US (Husain 32).
Since 1980, Cuba has become the most militarized nation on earth with more than 145,000 army men with 110,000 who are ready in reserve. It had a navy of more than twelve thousand and maintained three submarines. It also had two modern guided missile frigates and an immense number of patrol craft and minesweepers. The Cuban air force was one of the most potent ones, and it had approximately 18,500 men with 250 modern combat aircraft (Van Dijk 20). It only possessed seven troop-carrying TupolevTU-154 means of transport, and Castro's ability to intervene was not possible. The Cuban military machines were considered the most powerful than any other in the Latin America. The Cuban government has said earlier that supported terrorism and that allowed the criminals to hack the US or any other nation’s internet.
The Cuban government seemed to have had technological support and had adequate armed forces that were well equipped. It is evident that such nations as Spain that did not have good terms with the US provided training to Cuban army. Others such as Iran and Iraq supported Cuba with some of the most dangerous weapons (Van Dijk 25). For example, the US Navy caught a ship that was carrying weapons including nuclear bombs that originated from Iran and destined to Cuba. Cuba had a strong technology that was used by the spies to hack the US network and stole some of the intelligent information.
Conclusion
With the above Cuban armament of its armed forces and the use of technology, this country could hardly sustain the war with the US from 1960 to the year 2014 (Husain 41). It is true that this country would get weapons and technology to fight with the US, but it was not clear if the said nations would continue supplying them even if its economy deteriorated. The theory of rational or optimum arms race is could be significantly applied to the Cuban case. It was necessary for it to assess the economic impacts of the cold war and the benefits that it would get from armament.
Works Cited
Glaser, Charles L. "When Are Arms Races Dangerous? Rational versus Suboptimal Arming." International Security 28.4 (2004): 44-84. Print.
Husain, Aiyaz. "Covert Action and US Cold War Strategy in Cuba, 1961-62." Cold War History 5.1 (2005): 23-53. Print.
Van Dijk, Ruud. "Nuclear weapons and the Cold War."The Routledge Handbook of the Cold War (n.d.): n. pag. Print.
