Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1971

Abstract

For all the talk in this country in recent years about improving relations between the United States and Communist nations – "building bridges" and the like-old stereotypes of West and East, Us and Them, linger on. The Cold War mentality dies hard: East-West relations remain symbolized by signs of separation and antagonism such as the Berlin Wall and the lonely bridge at Lowu where travelers cross between Hong Kong and China. Such images, and the stereotyped habits of thought associated with them, are especially dangerous in a time characterized by neither war nor peace, but by a mixture of both. Soviet-supplied automatic weapons kill Americans in Vietnam while Soviet dancers entertain in New York. American policy choices are unclear because precise alternatives are lacking and neither policy-makers nor citizens can easily muster the suppleness and subtlety which they need to confront a confused reality. In the muddle, even some fairly obvious possible adjustments in American policies remain obscured by obsolete moralizing and long-established commitment to economic welfare. A striking example of the need for change is American policy on trade with Communist nations, a subject on which Samuel Pisar's book has much to say.

Disciplines

Comparative and Foreign Law | Law

Comments

Coexistance & Commerce: Guidelines for Transactions Between East and West by Samuel Pisar, New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1970, pp. xv, 558, $17.50.

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