ABSTRACT

This chapter provides some of the main themes emerging from the different contributions. From this it is evident that in a field such as economic relations between East and West, in which politics and economics are so inextricably linked it. In neither East nor West, however, have the interest groups been able to prevent developments in the political and military fields from undermining the basis for improved economic relations and more intense forms of cooperation. Developments in East-West trade since the mid-1970s have, however, proved that the euphoric expectations of the early detente period were much too high. As it turned out economic relations alone have not been sufficient to propell the process of detente. Nevertheless it remains the most stable element in the web of East-West relations but one with more of a tension dampening than a détente promoting effect.