| Summary: | After nearly 60 years of frozen diplomatic relations between USA and Cuba President Obama decided it was time for a change. The leading words of his campaign has since the beginning of his first election period in 2009 been to “Remake America”. As a result of his new approach to foreign policymaking and international relations President Obama and Raúl Castro announced in December 2014 that they wished to normalize the diplomatic relationship between the two states. March 2016 therefor marks an historical event when Obama travelled to Cuba to formally shake hands with Raúl Castro, and extend a hand of friendship to the Cuban people. He was the first American president to visit Cuba since Kennedy confirmed the embargo in the beginning of the 1960s. This essay will look into the historical aspects of the path dependent Cuban policy that nine American Presidents has chosen to pursue since the beginning of the 1960s, leading up to 2009. A policy that has not been able to live up to what it was set out to do. This essay will use three different theories to try and make sense of why history is changing, and how we should understand these changes. Realism and liberalism are used to deal with the historical aspects regarding this relationship. Although USA is built on liberal values and they have taken on the role as a democratic leader in the world, many political decisions and actions points to a more realistic approach to international relations mostly driven by suspicion against other non-democratic states. The theory of path dependency is employed to try and break down events as we approach the historical event of the meeting between President Obama and Raúl Castro during Obamas visit to Cuba in March 2016. With the help of path dependent tools such as increasing returns and critical junctures, this essay concludes that we have in fact reached a critical juncture regarding the American Cuban policy.
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