East West Technology Transfer In Perspective

A wide-ranging review of the issues and opportunities in the transfer of technology between advanced industrial countries and the countries of the Former Soviet Union. A major theme is the complex socio-technological aspects of the process, together with the related human factors and leadership requirements. The book presents a very open exchange of views on the difficult obstacles that the countries of the Former Soviet Union need to overcome and the market economy countries of the west need to understand. Issues of patents, intellectual property, personnel training, reorganization of formerly centralized economies, incentives, information exchange, and possible models for effective transfer are highlighted, together with specific examples and discussions of the most up-to-date knowledge about technology transfer. Audience: All individuals and organizations concerned with the transfer of technology, particularly those interested in a candid appraisal of the issues and opportunities for the transfer of technology and industrial and scientific cooperation between industrialized market economies and the countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

The deterioration of detente in the wake of the ongoing Soviet arms build-up has sharply focused the East-West trade debate on the question of advanced technology transfer from the United States and its allies to the Soviet bloc. The transfer and acquisition of high technology have become central ingredients in super-power relations and are key elements of any national security policy. President Reagan, among others, has questioned the wisdom of the policies of the 1960s and early 1970s, when trade with the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe expanded rapidly. At recent industrial nation summits, conferees of Western countries agreed to high-level review of their East-West technology trade policies. But in light of the apparent West European commitment to continue and expand trade with the East, as exemplified by the Siberian gas pipeline project, and the growing U.S. opposition to such technology transfer, divisions between U.S. and Western trade policies toward the East are likely to become increasingly acute in the years ahead. Professors Bertsch and McIntyre have selected comprehensive and representative articles to examine the question of technology transfer from a variety of perspectives--political, economic, and military- emphasizing both the U.S. and the Western allies' points of view and offering insights into the complex issues raised by the strategic dimensions of East-West trade.

Western efforts to control trade and technological relations with communist countries affect many interests and political groups in both Eastern and Western blocs. Although there is general agreement within the Western alliance that government-imposed controls are necessary to prevent material having military importance from falling in the hands of the Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact allies, there is considerable controversy over the specifics: the exact definition of "militarily significant" material, how the Western nations should administer controls, the implications of glasnost, and other matters.

Originally published in 1985, in the deteriorating climate of East-West relations technology transfer became vitally important. The Eastern bloc desperately needed Western technology to assist in the development of the socialist economies, but a proposed US ban on the export of Western technology to the Siberian pipeline project led to increasing tension within the Western alliance abot the nature and scale of high technology that could be safely exported to the East. This book reviews the state of technology transfer to the East in the 1980s and considers the place of Western technology in the Eastern economies. It also discusses the strategic goals of Western technology embargoes. Many of the issues discussed remain pertinent today.

This book is based on an international conference at the University of Tokyo on CoCom and its related export control system'. Despite the changes in the overall political climate, such as the new thinking' in Soviet foreign policy, it seems that CoCom will continue to function for some years. Although the scope of control has been narrowed, the control itself has been tightened. All the old problems which caused conflicts within and outside CoCom still exist. The United States is still exercising export controls in an extra-territorial way via its extensive re-export control system. The 1988 Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act remains unaltered, notwithstanding its controversial nature. This book is a major contribution to the discussion of current legal and political issues concerning export controls, a discussion which has gained greatly in importance as a result of the Gulf crisis.