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........ published in NEWSLETTER # 63

DIFFUSION OF NEW TECHNOLOGIES IN THE POST-COMMUNIST WORLD
by Professor M. Rabkin, University, Montreal (Canada)

There reigned a remarkable optimism among scientists and engineers in Communist Europe as glasnost and perestroika were ushered in during the late 1980s. Hopes were high as to the future of those countries as a major source of technological innovation. It was expected that once freed from the shackles of central planning, the region's gigantic R&D system, the largest in the world, would finally begin to generate wealth and success. This optimism reflected decades of massive investment in science and technology, and a few spectacular successes, particularly in the military and space sectors. It was assumed that the demise of the Communist system would invigorate scientists and engineers who would at long last function at full power of their intellectual potential. Their change had finally come. The reality turned out to be quite different in each of the countries covered in the book under review.

This volume (NATO ASI SERIES 4-13) presents a series of views on the effect of the demise of Communism on science and technology, and more specifically, on the international diffusion of new technologies. These views come from a variety of fields, among them history and sociology of science, political science, information sciences, marketing. Yet, most authors share an interest in science policy studies which permeates this collection. Most of the contributions to this volume were initially presented at a NATO Advanced Research Workshop held in St. Petersburg, Russia, in June 1994. Several chapters were written specifically for this volume which offers both broad analyses and case studies of changes in the systems of research and diffusion of technology in the aftermath of Communism.
Reference books: 4-3, 4-6, 4-8, 4-11, 4-13, E6, E19

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