GEOGRAPHICAL PROBLEMS OF SOCIALIST ECONOMIC INTEGRATION

Abstract

The impact of Soviet-bloc economic integration on the spatial structure of the national economies is considered, with particular reference to the interior zone and the frontier areas of member countries. In the case of the Soviet interior, the Comecon integration program has thus far affected mainly the European portion of the USSR. However, as a result of the growing flow of energy and raw materials to Eastern Europe and the increasing number of joint Comecon resource development projects, the Asian areas of the Soviet Union are also being drawn into the integration process. When it comes to frontier areas, several types are distinguished, ranging from the intensive cross-border interaction in the industrial frontier district shared by East Germany, Czechoslovakia and Poland to the potential interplay between Black Sea and Baltic coastal areas. The industrialization of western frontier areas of the Soviet Union is discussed as part of Comecon integration.