ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the political objectives of American trade pressure. It focuses on the question of Soviet performance on human rights and the issue of dissent. The chapter draws on the theme of human rights but with the focus of attention shifting to the issue of emigration, in particular Jewish emigration. For the United States the more traditional concept of human rights covering what are known as political rights have generally had precedence over the more modern concept which includes economic and social rights. In 1985 there was a heavy crackdown on religious dissenters. Amnesty International reported that at least 132 Soviet citizens were jailed under laws curtailing freedom of religion and expression. Many of those jailed had allegedly criticised the Soviet government’s treatment of non-Russians in the USSR. The situation for Soviet Jews wishing to emigrate had been steadily deteriorating since the record number of departures occurred in 1979.
