Contemporary Global Problems: Scientific and Social Aspects; Contemporary Global Problems

Two important and innovative Soviet interpretations of the "subjective" (i.e., political) and the "objective" (i.e., technical) factors influencing the international situation. The first book, written by the deputy chief of the International Department of the Central Committee and by a specialist in Marxist philosophy, lays more stress on the systemic explanations than does the second, prepared by the research staff of the Institute of World Economy and International Relations. Both works, nevertheless, are significant departures in that they analyze from a global viewpoint the implications of the nuclear race, restrictions on world trade, underdevelopment, population growth, utilization of ocean resources, food and raw material supplies. This approach permits an open-ended inquiry which, more often implicitly than explicitly, admits that both the socialist and the capitalist countries face problems for which the old systemic answers do not provide adequate solutions.