Legal and Institutional Barriers to United States--Soviet Trade: Soviet Perspective

Traditionally, law, economics, and politics have always been interrelated elements. Within this interaction economics and politics have often alternated as the leading determinant of future development, whereas law has acted as an appendage of both or, at least, as a catalyst for future political and economic changes in the given society. This analysis of the close interaction between law, economics, and politics applies not only domestically but also internationally. If foreign policy is nothing but a continuation of domestic policy by other means, it follows that the foreign policy of a particular nation is shaped by a variety of factors including domestic and international politics.

Thus, the conduct of a nation's foreign policy is a multifaceted process that includes diplomatic, economic, cultural, scientific, and technological relations as well as military operations, if necessary. Within this context, foreign trade is only one of the many instruments utilized in the conduct of foreign policy. For both the United States and the Soviet Union foreign trade has always been and will continue to be, to paraphrase Clausewitz, a continuation of political relations by other means.