Cette thèse contribue à la connaissance d’une organisation internationale méconnue du système-monde socialiste entre 1949 et 1991, le Conseil d’Aide Economique Mutuelle (CAEM). Elle mobilise simultanément plusieurs fonds d’archives – du CAEM lui-même, de la RDA, de la Stasi et de l’ONU -, et rompt avec les monographies nationales sur la participation d’un Etat à son activité. Au prisme du CAEM et des réseaux d’acteurs qu’il met en place, c’est la notion même de « bloc » de l’Est qui est interrogée. L’organisation est en effet une vitrine de la cohésion et de la solidarité du monde socialiste pendant la Guerre froide. L’étude examine la place du CAEM dans un espace en construction et en quête de légitimation au cours de la seconde moitié du XXème siècle. Le rôle du CAEM dans les échanges économiques entre pays socialistes est d’abord mis en lumière. L’organisation élabore son propre modèle d’économie internationale socialiste. Pourtant, un découplage stratégique s’opère entre l’intérêt du CAEM dans l’affrontement symbolique avec le monde capitaliste et son incapacité pratique à assurer la modernisation des économies socialistes. L’étude des mécanismes de spatialisation du « bloc », de structuration de réseaux d’experts par delà les frontières et de production de discours sur l’économie internationale socialiste permet alors de proposer une socio-histoire transnationale de l’évolution des pratiques professionnelles d’une catégorie d’acteurs spécifiques. Les agents du CAEM comptent parmi les rares individus qui, dans le monde socialiste, développent une acculturation transnationale leur permettant véritablement de considérer le « bloc » comme un espace approprié. / This thesis contributes to the knowledge about the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (Comecon, CMEA), the little-known international organization of the socialist world-system, from 1949 to 1991. Unlike most historical monographs analysing the individual member States’ contribution to Comecon activities, this study draws on different archive materials – from Comecon itself, the GDR, the Stasi and the UN. Analysing Comecon through the prism of the networks of actors that emerged in the institutional framework it provided, it is the very notion of an Eastern “bloc” that is questioned. The organization was a showcase of the cohesion and solidarity of the socialist world during the Cold War. The study deals with its role in a space under construction and seeking legitimation in the second half of the 20th century. It first casts a light on the role of Comecon in the economic relations of the socialist countries. The organization developed its own model of an international socialist economy. However, a strategic decoupling appeared between the importance of Comecon in the symbolic competition with the capitalist world and its helplessness to ensure the modernization of socialist economies. The study of the spatialization of the “bloc”, the structuration of expert networks beyond the national boarders and the production of discourses on international socialist economy leads to a transnational socio-histoire of specific Comecon agents. Comecon servants counted among the few people in the socialist world, who were able to develop a transnational acculturation that allowed them to truly consider the “bloc” as an appropriated term of reference and space of development.

La investigación analiza el proceso de integración económica internacional y la competitividad de los países en transición de la Europa central (PEC) desde una perspectiva global. Defiende que el modelo de inserción de estos países en la economía mundial ha cambiado sustancialmente, pasando a predominar los sectores de sofisticación tecnológica media y alta e intensivos en capital físico y humano, y encuentra como principales impulsores del cambio estructural la apertura exterior y el objetivo estratégico de integración en la UE. El año 1997 aparece como el punto de inflexión clave, vinculado al aumento de las inversiones extranjeras directas y al cambio estratégico de las empresas multinacionales. No obstante, el proceso de globalización también ha influido, por la fuerte irrupción de los países asiáticos y la recuperación de los mercados de los países ex CAEM. El estudio también evidencia una mejora en la posición competitiva de estos países, que se encuentra ya muy próxima a los países de la UE-Sur, y defiende que la competitividad internacional ya no descansa sólo en las ventajas de costes, sino también en variables distintas al precio. No obstante, la investigación pone de relieve que todavía existen importantes retos a superar como el fenómeno de la dualización industrial, las asimetrías territoriales, la escasa capacidad de innovación y la limitada presencia en las regiones emergentes más dinámicas. Aunque en los últimos años se están observando mejoras relativas en algunos de estos aspectos, se considera necesario un papel más activo de los gobiernos y una mayor voluntad de apoyo por parte de la Unión Europea. / "THE INSERTION MODEL AND COMPETITIVE POSITION OF THE CENTRAL-EASTERN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES WITHIN THE CURRENT WORLDWIDE CONTEXT". TEXT:This research looks into the process of international economic integration and competitiveness of the central-eastern European countries from a global perspective. It argues that the insertion model for bringing these countries into the mainstream of the world economy has undergone significant change, where sectors employing a medium to high level of technological sophistication, with a high physical and human capital are gaining the upper hand, finding the international openness and the strategic goal of EU membership as the core of the thrust which is leading structural changes. In this context, the year 1997 can be credited as being the watershed, linked to the rise in foreign direct investment and the strategic changes made by the major multinationals. Nevertheless, the process of globalisation has also born an influence, most notably for the great impact caused by the Asian countries on the international scene and the recovery of markets from states of the former Comecon block. This work also sheds light on the improvement in the competitive position of the central¬eastern European countries, now in a position not far removed from those of the southern EU countries, underlining the assertion that international competitiveness does not depend solely on cost advantage, but on a number of variables apart from just price. It should be pointed out though that research has brought to light a number of important challenges to be overcome, such as that of the phenomenon of the dualisation of industry, territorial imbalances, a shortage of innovational skills and a limited presence in some of the most dynamic emerging regions. Even if in recent years some of the above have experienced movement in the right direction, it is nevertheless felt that governments should be taking a more active role and a greater determination to support the region be expressed in real terms by the European Union.