Soviet and East European Law and the Scientific-Technical Revolution discusses the various perceptions and understandings of the scientific technical revolution (STR) and its effect on the legal systems of the USSR and the East European nations. This book is composed 11 chapters and begins with a description of the relationship of the STR and law and how law is used as a means of manipulating the STR and directing its development. The succeeding chapters explore the STR in the realm of ideas or doctrine relating to management theory and jurisprudence. These topics are followed by discussions of the constitutional enactments influenced by the STR and the developments of administrative and labor laws. The remaining chapters highlight the tangible results of efforts to shape the STR. These chapters also look into the development of mechanisms for the transfer of technology between the Soviet Union and the Eastern Europe. This book is intended for historians and the general public who are interested in scientific-technical revolution.

""The Scientific-Technological Revolution"" and Soviet Foreign Policy explains the effects of the worldwide scientific-technological revolution (STR) on Soviet foreign policy under ""the collective leadership"" of Leonid Brezhnev. Organized into five chapters, this book carefully examines Soviet views of the relationship of STR with political, economic, and military dimensions of ""peaceful coexistence"" and ""detente."" This text also evaluates the impact of scientific discoveries, technological innovations, foreign economic relations, strategic arms development, and instability in Third World countries. Some of the functions performed by Soviet perspectives on scientific-technical change and international politics are also reported.

In the past, Soviet policymakers, planners, and jurists, in their enthusiasm for economic and technological development, devoted little attention to the often negative consequences of modernization. New concerns, however, have become apparent in recent literature, statutes, and decrees. In this book, political scientists and experts on Soviet law address many of those concerns, analyzing the legal issues associated with economic modernization in the USSR. The central themes of the book are the increasingly centralized nature of the policymaking process in the USSR and Eastern Europe and the marked tendency to rely on law as a principal mechanism for managing the undesirable consequences of scientific and technological progress. The authors also assess the impact of the scientific-technical revolution on Soviet-East European relations and East-West relations, emphasizing the foreign policy consequences of increased financial and technological interdependence. The study does not deal with narrow legalistic issues of technical progress; rather, its focus on policy questions reflects the inclination of Soviet and Eastern European governments to view those questions in terms of law and legislative activity and to see law as an instrument of social engineering.

Comecon, or the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance, was founded by Joseph Stalin in 1949 to counteract the Marshall Plan and reinforce the bonds between the Soviet Union and the "people's democracies" of Eastern Europe. Other Soviet Bloc nations later joined "Comecon, "and for forty years it dominated the trade policies of the Soviet Bloc and profoundly influenced their domestic economic development and relations with the West. "Comecon "collapsed in 1991 after the countries of Eastern Europe rejected communism. It was often compared with the (West European) Common Market, but differed vastly in its aims, structure, powers, and activities. Its influence is a critical factor in assessing both the economic failures of the Soviet Bloc and the problems facing former member states as they make the transition to free-market economies. This detailed, annotated bibliography is an essential guide to the extensive English-language literature about "Comecon "from its founding until its demise. Chapters cover "Comecon's "history, structure, and law; socialist economic integration; the organization's arrangements for international trade and finance; environment, natural resources, and energy; labor; industry and agriculture; science and technology. "Comecon, "like the rest of the Soviet Bloc, collapsed suddenly, but its legacy will color international relations and worldwide economic issues for years to come. An understanding of its institutions, mechanisms, and policies remains vital hi appreciating the economic organization of the former Soviet empire. This bibliography will therefore be indispensable to policymakers, economists, historians, and political scientists.

Russia's international law persona is still in its infancy and it will take a while for the cycle to run its full course. However, significant changes have already occurred in some areas, thus offering an opportunity to analyze the trends here and track the process of emergence of successor doctrines and practices destined to replace the Soviet heritage. The quartet of topics selected for treatment in this volume - the relationship between international and domestic law; citizenship and state succession; the Sino-Russian boundary problem; and cooperation with China in policing crime - illustrates major shifts in Russia's international law policy in a bid to shed the corset of Communist ideology and the old regime's modus operandi and join the international community's mainstream culture. The test cases also attest to the difficulties encountered in the process of transition and show that progress on this front has by no means been uniform. The sample includes both instances where the break with the past looks quite pronounced and where greater distancing from precedent might logically have been expected, but, for reasons that are then explored, a sense of substantive continuity instead prevails, albeit made more palatable by an application of linguistic cosmetics. From Soviet to Russian International Law: Studies in Continuity and Change marks the occasion of the author's 65th birthday and the 40th anniversary of his publishing debut.