1004 



The Impacts of Politics and Diplomacy on the Exchange Programs 



The administrative apparatus of the Soviet-American and Eastern 

 European inter-Academy exchange program is designed to encourage 

 its noninterference from pohtical factors or, at least, to capitahze on 

 the nonpoUtical and nongovernmental character of its scientific com- 

 ponents. Still, political factors do impact significantly on the number, 

 content, and quality of exchanges, requiring continuing negotiations 

 in order to meet the terms of the agreements. The most readily 

 apparent impacts are those foreign policy events which enlarge 

 scientific exchange, such as the detente between the United States 

 and the Soviet Union which led to the signing of the 1972 scientific 

 accords between Moscow and Washington; the priority President 

 Nixon placed on establishing better scientific relations with Romania 

 as a response to Romanian opposition to the 1968 Soviet invasion of 

 Czechoslovakia;*" and expansion of the number and scope of ex- 

 changes between Yugoslavia and the United States followdng Presi- 

 dent Nixon's 1970 visit."^ 



More frequently, however, political events have had a constraining 

 effect on activities carried out under the exchange agreements. These 

 have included the general political chmate and ideological factors 

 which diminish So^^et and Eastern European receptivity to exchanges, 

 and visa and other restrictions.*'^ 



IMPACTS OF INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL EVENTS ON SOVIET AND EASTERN 

 EUROPEAN RECEPTIVITY TO THE CONDUCT OF EXCHANGES 



"The main problems which our academy has experienced in its 

 exchange program with the Soviet Academy," according to Harrison 

 Brown, "stem from problems in the political sphere." *'* In 1968 

 Brown reported : 



In this year of sobering and divisive international events, I continue to be 

 optimistic about the positive unifying force of international science. The influence 

 of our common intellectual enterprise far exceeds our numbers and transcends 

 many of the immediate problems of "foreign affairs." Nonetheless, Congressional 

 cuts . . . have reduced . . . the role of technical assistance in the help America 

 gives developing nations. The gold flow is severely curtailing foreign travel of 

 scientists to international meetings. The war in Vietnam continues to cast its long, 

 shadow over all official and unofl!icial American relations abroad.*'^ 



♦" Interview with Robert F. Hull, Office of International Programs, National Science Foundation, Feb- 

 ruary 26, 1971. 



<i2 Brown, In: International Cooperation in Science and Space: Hearings, op. cit., pp. 131-4. 



<" According to Byrnes, "there is an eternal 'great debate' within the Soviet ruUng groups about the 

 wisdom and utility of continuing academic exchanges." He continues: "The presence of Americans and 

 other foreigners in Soviet universities, where- the future eUte are being trained; the published materials 

 which they bring with them and on occasion share with their Soviet fellows; the conversations they have 

 In the dormitories and in class; everything which Americans and others do in the Soviet Union is considered 

 a threat. As one American expressed it: 'We are propaganda, simply because of our presence here.' In short, 

 the very nature of the exchange program raises very difficult problems for the Soviet Union .... To obtain 

 gains which it thinks important, even.crucial, it must risk contamination of its intellectual eUte and of the 

 ideological future of the country. To obtain the advantages it seeks in the West, it must open up the Soviet 

 Union to some degree to foreign scholars. To obtain scientific and technical and military information and 

 some political advantages, it must expose itself to criticism . . . . " (Byrnes, op. cit., p. 15.) Harvey, Goure, 

 and Prokofieff expand upon this notion and also document restrictions placed upon Soviet scientists who- 

 wish to engage in foreign activities, (Science and Technology as an Instrument of Soviet Policy, Chap. 5, op. 

 cit.). 



*i< Infernafional Cooperation in Science and Space: Hearings, op. cit., p. 153. 



"« "Report of the Foreign Secretary to the Annual Meeting of the NAS," Apr. 23, 1968, p. 1. 



