Economic reform in three giant: US foreign policy and the USSR, China and India / by Richard E. Feinberg, John cheverri - Gent and Friedemann Muller

Three of the largest and strategically most important underdevel oped nations in the world-the Soviet Union, China, and India—are simultaneously in the throes of historic changes. Economic reform in the Giants clearly has profound consequences for their own polit ical systems-and for the lives of the 2.2 billion people (nearly half the world's population) living in their societies. The reforms in the Giants are also prompting dramatic changes in the international political and economic order.

All three of the Giants are opening up their economies to for eign trade, technology, and investment. What consequences will their new outward-orientation have for international trade, and how should U.S. policy respond to these developments? What role can key international economic institutions like the GATT, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank play in helping to integrate the Giants more fully into the world economy?

While the ability of the United States and the other industrial democracies to influence the course of events within the Giants is limited, they have at their disposal multiple means to facilitate the progress of reform. The authors argue that the many uncertainties of the new international setting "underscore the need for clear headed realism but should not stand in the way of bold action to help steer history in a forward direction." Their policy recommendations suggest ways to transform past threats into new opportunities.