ABSTRACT
The evolution of technology in East Central Europe was slowed down by the economically unreasonable operation of the totalitarian political system based on state property, central "planning," and central redistribution. This resulted in the development and extension of industrial and agricultural systems consuming more resources and causing more serious environmental impacts than the technological systems in the Western Hemisphere. This process had been accomplished in a similar way in all East Central European countries, due to the strong political and economic control by the Soviet Union. The Czech Blue Book (Moldan) divides the history of the totalitarian era into three parts. The first period (1948-1960) is characterized by rapid economic development, accompanied by practically no attention toward ecological problems. The second (1961-1970) is the slowdown period of economic development, with the first signals of serious — though still only local — disturbances of the ecological stability, a dramatic impairment of water quality. The third period (1971-1990) is described by alternating intervals of economic growth and stagnation, accompanied by the efforts to maintain an acceptable living standard — because of the extensive devastation of the environment and inadequate exploitation of natural resources.
