Volume 15, Number 3, 1984

EN:

The international developments of the last few years have once more brought forth the traditional questions on the foreign policy of the USSR. The strong coming hack of the Soviet military on the political scène has revived the debate on the nature of the Soviet power and on the role played by the Army and its representatives. Since 1975, Soviet policy has been what can be considered as a "policy of response", aimed at protecting the recently acquired "new frontiers" and at preventing the United States from availing themselves of the internal problems existing in the USSR to change the status quo to their advantage. Increasingly, the Soviet government, in his multiple interventions in various regions of the world - and particularly in Afghanistan - is resorting to the militarization of her ancient and new frontiers. This line of action makes the Soviet policy more and more unpredictable and intensifies the risks of confrontation around the globe.

EN:

Five of the most important currencies compose the SDR, the currency cocktail which is. at the base of the International Monetary System. Violent swings on the foreign exchange markets and greatest uncertainty of interest rates plead for a more frequent use of currency cocktails international operators. Both the Ecu and the SDR should have been more present in international finance.

This article presents and analyses two international transactions in which the SDR was selected as unit of account: the first one is a syndicated loan to the Kingdom of Sweden and the second one a syndicated loan to the Republic of the Ivory Coast. A comparison of the two credits is presented and their differences are exposed. The author concludes that the SDR could be, in practice, very different from a private transaction to the next.

Additional clauses are required when a currency cocktail is selected for a euro-credit : the definition of the SDR, the definition of the dollar-value of the SDR, the difficulty of the calculation of the interest rates, the problems of foreign exchange quotations make additional clauses necessary. As a consequence, the documentation of a SDR credit is more complex than in the case of a classic US dollar facility.

EN:

Against the background of the latest vehement discussions in West-Germany on the implementation of the NATO twin-track-decision this article analyses the current concepts of security and détente presented by the main political forces as well as their historical dimensions.

The Christian Democrat/Liberal government pursues a pragmatic Atlanticist security policy, which is based largely upon Adenauer's principles such as exclusive definition of West German interests in the framework of the Alliance, rejection of one-sided disarmament and nuclear disengagement. Nevertheless, the government Kohl has adopted the main instruments of the new "Ostpolitik" in order to establish the calculability of West German policy in East and West. Détente is no considered as a political aim in itself.

The Social Democrat concept of a security partnership with the East is strongly influenced by the principles and methods underlying the new "Ostpolitik". This concept aims at the creation of a denuclearized zone in Central Europe in order to facilitate a real détente between East and West. An optimistic view or détente appears to be an essential element of the political identity of the SPD.

The ideas of the Greens and the "Peace Movement" - unilateral disarmament, creation of a denuclearized zone, renunciation on "first Use" - are variations of the pacifistic concepts already developped in the 1950's. The main reason for the formation of the "Peace Movement" is a change in West German political culture involving above all the younger population.