Energy and the Soviet bloc : alliance politics after Stalin /

The Soviet bloc was not simply an "empire," argues Reisinger (University of Iowa) but an example of "alliance management" by bargaining. The Soviet Union delivered low-cost energy oil, natural gas, electricity to the states of Eastern Europe in return for their stability and military cooperation. Using both statistical analyses and published trade agreements, Reisinger makes a good case, even showing variations over time and between states according to their degree of cooperation with Moscow. Some may object that he downplays the coercive aspects of Soviet hegemony to concentrate on "energy-as-carrot," thus making the bloc look rather like a normal and consensual association. Although the book barely includes the collapse of the bloc, Reisinger's thesis fits suggestions that one of Gorbachev's motives was to end costly Soviet energy subsidies to Eastern Europe, which since 1991 pays world prices in hard currencies for Russian oil. Reisinger could do a splendid follow-up on this question, one that would strengthen his thesis on complex and two-way bargaining inside the defunct bloc. Although the subject has slid into history, this is an important addition to the specialized scholarly literature. Graduate collections. M. G. Roskin; U.S. Army War College