Book Notes
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9299.1974.tb00172.x |
| Date | 01 March 1974 |
| Published date | 01 March 1974 |
Book
Notes
The Government and Politics
of
France:
VoL.
II
Politics
Dorothy Pickles. Methuen,
1973.
Pp.
500.
&.oo
(cloth),
A2-00
(paper).
This second volume illustrates the
working of the institutions and parties
described in Volume
I
(see
Public
Administvation,
Spring
1973)
and does
this not only through
a
discussion and
explanation
of
the major themes and
problems of French politics from
1958
to
1973,
but also by way
of
an outline
political history
of
the period. Among
the themes examined are the Algerian
War and
its
aftermath, the notion of
‘participation’, educational reform,
economic problems, regionalism, the
changing nature of Gaullism, elections
and electoralism, and significant aspects
of
French foreign policy, notably
France’s attitude to the
EEC
and her
relations with the Atlantic powers.
Industry
and
tbe Civil Seraice
Nicholas Kidley. Aims
of
Industry,
1973.
14.
19’-
The picture of an all-powerful civil
service pulling exhausted work-laden
Ministers into policy directions they
may not necessarily wish to go emerges
from this brief study by a former
Conservative Minister. In its resistance
to change, he states, the British civil
service ‘is like an enormous steel
spring; it can be pulled out
of
its
natural position by great exertion, but
it eventually pulls you back by
its
sheer persistence’.
Mr.Ridley’s solutions include
a
‘cabinet’ of loyal advisers for Ministers
and
a
massive programme of hiving-off
with
a
permanent commission to
identify the areas most suitable. After
reading Mr.Ridley one doubts whether
any Government can implement its
policies, but his belief in the ineffective-
ness of Ministers vis-&-vis the civil
service is an extreme,
if
not curious
one, to say the least.
Urban Government for
Rio
de Janeiro
Ivan L.Richardson.
New York: Praeger.
London: Pall Mall Press,
1973.
Pp.
184.
L6.25.
Urban Government
for
Valencia,
Venezuela
Mark W.Cannon, R.Scott Foster
and Robert Witherspoon.
New York: Praeger.
London: Pall Mall Press,
1973.
PP.
152.
L5.75.
These two volumes are the eighth and
ninth to appear in the series
of
city
government studies undertaken for the
Institute
of
Public Administration in
New York. The Brazilian volume deals
with the evolution of local administra-
tion in Rio -now the state of Guana-
bara: its structure, finance, planning
and the main urban services it provides.
The role of several developmental
agencies, concerned with such functions
as
water supply, telecommunications,
transportation and banking,
is
also
considered. The volume on Valencia
follows
a
similar pattern. Both books
attempt to set their studies in the
context
of
the national and state
systems
of
government.
129
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