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Soviet Policy in ECAFE: A Case Study of Soviet Behavior in International Economic Organization

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 May 2009

Alvin Z. Rubinstein
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Extract

A significant aspect of post-Stalinist Soviet foreign policy has been the flexibility and imaginativeness with which it has maneuvered in under-developed areas, particularly in the non-aligned nations of Southern Asia—Afghanistan, Burma, Ceylon, India, and Indonesia. This innovation involved a fundamental shift in tactics and must now be considered a prominent feature of Soviet foreign policy. The previous neglect of South Asia was occasioned by a preoccupation with the sovietization of eastern Europe, the imperatives of postwar reconstruction and economic expansion, and the rise of communist China; it may also be attributed, in important measure, to Stalin's underestimation of the role which the area might play in enhancing the international position of the Soviet Union. This aspect of Stalinism is now over. Since 1953, Soviet leadership has pushed its interests in South Asia with skill and vigor, both on a bilateral basis and within the framework of international organizations. Of late, the bilateral ventures have received careful attention in this country. Less systematic attention, however, has been devoted to Soviet behavior in international economic organizations. In this respect, the UN Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East (ECAFE) affords an excellent opportunity to investigate this phase of Soviet political behavior.

Type
Articles
Information
International Organization , Volume 12 , Issue 4 , Autumn 1958 , pp. 459 - 472
Copyright
Copyright © The IO Foundation 1958

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References

1 See The Sino-Soviet Economic Offensive in the Less Developed Countries, Department of State, 1958; State Department Memorandum of January 3, 1958; The New York Times, July 7, 1958. Innumerable articles have been published in the past two years on the various aspects of the Soviet economic and trade offensive in under-developed areas. Literature on the subject is rapidly acquiring impressive proportions.

2 Documents E/CN.11/SR.6–11.

3 Document E/CN.11/SR.18, p. 4.

4 For a detailed discussion of Soviet UN policy toward under-developed countries during the 1946–53 period, see the author's “Soviet Policy Toward Under-Developed Areas in the Economic and Social Council”, International Organization, 05 1955 (Vol. 9, No. 2), p. 232–242.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

5 Documents E/CN.11/SR.69–71.

6 Document E/CN.11/SR.64, P. 13.

7 Document E/CN.11/I/SR.25, p. 4.

8 Document E/CN.11/344, p. 91.

9 Ibid.

10 Document E/CN.11/363, p. 53.

11 Ibid., p. 51.

12 Izvestia, March 6, 1949.

13 Much of the constructive work of ECAFE is accomplished in the little publicized technical committees and their subsidiaries, e.g.: the Annual Conferences of Statisticians; ECAFE/NUESCO Joint Working Party on Measures to Increase the Availability of Educational and Scientific Materials in the ECAFE Region; Bureau of Flood Control; Inland Transport Committee.

14 Document E/CN.11/363, p. 90–92. excerpts.

15 Economic and Social Council Official Records (16th session), 725th Meeting, July 15, 1953, p. 142. For an excellent account of Soviet participation in the UN Technical Assistance Programme since 1953 see Allen, Robert Loring, “United Nations Technical Assistance and Soviet and Eastern European Participation”, International Organization, Autumn 1957 (Vol. 11, No. 4), p. 615–634CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

16 Document E/CN.11/389, p. 55.

17 Document E/CN.11/I/101, p. 124, 128.

18 Ibid., p. 140.

19 Ibid., p. 31.

20 Western experts estimate that the Soviet Union sold approximately 260 million dollars in gold in 1957 to help finance its imports from hard currency areas. The New York Times, August 3, 1958.

21 In addition to the Soviet Union, other nations of the Soviet bloc have provided ECAFE countries with technical assistance. Indeed, Czech, Polish, Rumanian, and east German technicians are being used in increasing numbers.

22 Document E/CN.11/SR.150, p. 236.

23 Ibid., p. 238.

24 Document E/CN.11/431, p. 115.

25 Document E/CN.11/431, p. 200.

26 Document E/CN.11/453, P. 114.

27 Ibid. Also see Soviet comments in the Committee on Industry and Trade, Document E/CN.11/I/124.

28 Ibid..

29 The New York Times, March 13, 1958.

30 Pravda, March 15, 1958.

31 Pravda, March 6–7, 1958.