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Maintaining an International Economy
| Article
# : |
18424 |
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Section : |
CURRENT ISSUES
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| Issue
Date : |
9 / 1990 |
3,135 Words |
| Author
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Raymond Vernon
Raymond Vernon is professor of international affairs and
international business at the John F. Kennedy School of
Government. He is the author of numerous articles on global
economics. |
For international businessmen with a nose to the wind, the summer of 1990 was a time for exploring markets. With the close of the cold war, the world returned to Europe.
Forty years of closed regions and economic blocs divided between socialist and free world came tumbling down with the Berlin Wall in November 1989. Along with backpacking college students, rubbernecking tourists, and academics between semesters, businessmen of every nationality, distinguished by sober dress and dispatch case, could easily be identified on Budapest's Corso, in Prague's St. Wenceslaus Square, and outside the Kremlin walls.
It appeared the end of at least a part of history had indeed come. Judged by the brouhaha in the Western press, the signs seemed auspicious for enterprises from the West. New economics initiatives were being considered throughout the world. Most of the countries of Eastern Europe were in earnest about the need to enlarge the role of the private sector, attract foreign capital, and open up the economy to international trade. Some 24 rich countries were in the midst of putting together a program to provide billions of dollars in long-term aid. Those East European countries that were not already members of the World Bank, the IMF, and the General Agreement of Tariffs and Trade (GATT) were laying plans to join.
Will the euphoria over the end of Cold War economics continue indefinitely? Probably not. Fall and winter follow summer. And those seasons are likely to see the crowds thinned out, with the business delegations from the West fewer in number. Some West Germans will remain, eager to build on the advantages they have acquired though their
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