Law and Economic Development in the Soviet Union
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About the Book and Editors
Law and Economic Development in the Soviet Union
edited by Peter B. Maggs, Gordon B. Smith, and George Ginsburgs
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.
Peter B. Maggs is professor of law at the University of Illinois at Urbaina-Champaign. Gordon B. Smith is associate professor of government and international studies at the University of South Carolina.
George Ginsburgs is distinguished professor of foreign and comparative law at Rutgers University Law School.
Law and Economic Development in the Soviet Union
edited by Peter B. Maggs ,
Gordon B. Smith , and
George Ginsburgs
First published 1992 by Westview Press, Inc.
Published 2018 by Routledge
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Copyright 1992 Taylor & Francis
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Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 82-50689
ISBN 13: 978-0-367-01926-6 (hbk)
Contents
by Peter B. Maggs
by Robert Sharlet
by Stanislaw Pomorsk
by Yuri Luryi
by Gordon B. Smith
by Peter B. Maggs
by Donald D. Barry
by Zigurds L. Zile
by George Ginsburgs
by Erik P. Hoffman and Robbin F. Laird
This book results from a research project made possible by the assistance of a number of institutions and individuals. The research was funded by a contract from the National Council for Soviet and East European Research. Members of the research group have found the staff of the National Council most helpful and cooperative in facilitating this work. We owe a debt of thanks in particular to Paul Josephson for his assistance and insightful comments on substantive questions connected with the research.
The initial findings of the team's research were presented at a working conference at the Rutgers University School of Law in Camden, New Jersey. Two Rutgers' faculty members have contributed papers to the present volume. Discussants including Professors John N. Hazard and D.A. Loeber were also of great assistance to the authors.
Professor F.J.M. Feldbrugge deserves special thanks for his kindness in making the facilities of the Documentation Office for East European Law of the University of Leyden available to a number of the researchers.
Finally our thanks go to Ms. Victoria Powell, a third-year law student at the University of Illinois, for her careful proofreading and correction of the text and to Ms. Brenda Nolan, business manager of the University of Illinois College of Law for her patient handling of both the financial and word-processing aspects of the research project.
P.B.M.
G. B. S.
G.G.
1
Introduction: The Legal Impact of Modernization in the USSR
Peter B. Maggs
The present book contains the results of the second year of a two-year study of law, the scientific and technical revolution (STR), and economic modernization in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. Gordon Smith summarized the results of the first year's work as follows:
The success in realizing the fruits of the [scientific and technical revolution] will depend in large measure on the ability of socialist societies to master it. To date, the Soviet and East European leadership has, for the most part, chosen to pursue moderate or conservative means of harnessing the scientific and technical revolution. Legal norms reflect this orientation and will help to shape it in the immediate future, forming the basis upon which critical policy choices will be made.
