Strategic Embargo and Economic Warfare
| DOI | 10.1177/001083676800300108 |
| Published date | 01 March 1968 |
| Author | Klaus Törnudd |
| Date | 01 March 1968 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Strategic
Embargo
and
Economic
Warfare
Gunnar
Adler-Karlsson:
Western
Economic
Warfare
1947-1967,
A
Case
Study
in
Foreign
Economic
Policy.
Stockholm.
Almquist
&
Wiksell,
I968.
XVI
+
3I6
pp.
Klaus
Törnudd
This
doctoral
dissertation
defies
classifica-
tion
by
the
ordinary
rules
for
separating
different
branches
of
the
social
sciences.
The
author
has
worked
in
the
Institute
for
Inter-
national
Economic
Studies
of
the
Univer-
sity
of
Stockholm
under
the
guidance
of
Professor
Gunnar
Myrdal,
who
has
written
a
foreword
for
the
book.
It
was
submitted
for
examination
under
the
auspices
of
the
Department
of
Economics
in
the
Faculty
of
Law.
The
bulk
of
the
work
could
best
be
called
a
study
in
contemporary
interna-
tional
politics.
Of
the
seventeen
chapters,
two
are
introductory,
twelve
are
mainly
devoted
to
description
and
logical
analysis
of
the
policies
followed,
and
three
chapters
together
with
statistical
appendices
are
al-
most
entirely
devoted
to
an
economic
anal-
ysis.
I
The
subject
matter
is
the
so-called
strategic
control
maintained
throughout
the
cold
war
period
by
the
western
alliance
with
regard
to
exports
or
potential
exports
to
the
countries
of
the
eastern
alliance.
The
author
is
mainly
concerned
with
those
parts
of
the
export
control
that
amount
to
a
prohibition,
a
complete
embargo
on
trade
with
goods
that
are
normally
considered
as
’civilian’
goods,
although
the
embargo
has
been
motivated
by
reference
to
their
’stra-
tegic’
nature.
For
some
periods,
this
em-
bargo
policy
has
been
so
extensive
that
the
author
finds
it
justified
to
use
the
expression
economic
warfare.
The
United
States
has
been
the
main
protagonist
of
the
western
embargo
policy,
and
some
American
export
controls
had
already
been
introduced
late
in
1947.
The
Marshall
aid
programme
was
amended
in
1948,
when
a
rule
was
added
providing
for
refusal
of
deliveries
that
would
go
into
the
production
of
commodities
intended
for
export
to eastern
Europe,
if
these
com-
modities
were
refused
export
licenses
by
the
United
States
in
the
interest
of
national
security.
Certain
West
European
countries
also
introduced
controls
of
their
own,
and
a
coordinating
machinery
was
created
with
the
establishment
in
1949
of
the
Consulta-
tive
Group
and
the
Coordinating
Commit-
tee,
the
latter
being
known
as
COCOM.
The
Consultative
Group
was
designed
as
a
high-level
organ,
meeting
rarely,
while
COCOM
has
been
functioning
as
a
perma-
nent
working
body
in
Paris.
Since
the
early
I9Sos,
the
membership
of
these
bodies
has
comprised
Japan
and
all
NATO
member
states
except
Iceland.
For
some
years
there
also
existed
a
special
China
Committee,
CHINCOM.
From
the
outset
the
work
of
these
bodies
was
shrouded
in
secrecy,
and
even
today
very
little
is
known
about
their
internal
procedures
and
work.
The
main
duty
of
COCOM
has
been
to
work
out
lists
of
goods
that
are
not
to
be
exported
at
all
to
the
eastern
countries
or
that
are
to
be
kept
under
strict
surveillance.
The
lists
are
undoubtedly
the
result
of
much
difficult
bargaining,
in
view
of
the
different
export
interests
and
evaluations
of
the
different
countries,
and
agreement
requires
the
con-
sent
of
all
members.
COCOM
also
handles
applications
from
its
members
for
the
granting
of
exceptions
to
the
embargo.
The
member
states
are
expected
to
main-
tain
their
own
export
controls
in
conform-
ity
with
the
lists
established
by
consulta-
tion
and
negotiation
within
COCOM.
In
1951,
the
Mutual
Defense
Assistance
Control
Act,
the
so-called
Battle
Act,
was
promulgated
in
the
United
States
on
the
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