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.

Introduction: The Legal Impact of Modernization in the USSR -- The Changing Role and Function of Socialist Law as a Regulatory Instrument in Soviet-Type Societies -- Constitutional Rights in the USSR and Poland During the Era of Scientific and Technical Revolution -- Economic Modernization and Legal Problems of Professional Training of Workers in the USSR -- Interbranch and Interregional Coordination Problems in the Soviet Economy -- Legal Aspects of the Computerization of Management Systems in the USSR and Eastern Europe -- Political and Legal Aspects of the Development and Use of Nuclear Power in the USSR and Eastern Europe -- Glimpses of the Scientific-Technical Revolution in Soviet Environmental Law -- Soviet Currency Credits to Eastern Europe -- Soviet Economic Development and the World Economy: Legal Aspects of East-West Economic Relations