Introduction

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.

Scope of the Book

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.

Key Themes

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.

Focus and Perspective

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.