Book Review: Commonwealth of Nations: The Politics op Scarcity
| Date | 01 March 1964 |
| Published date | 01 March 1964 |
| Author | Michael Brecher |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070206401900126 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
BOOK
REI-WS
103
want
to
settle
here and
whose
presence
would
harm
no
one,
provided
the
intake
were
not
too
large
and
were
suitably
chosen
...
Fourthly,
the
policy
should
be
changed
because
of
its
disastrous
impact
on
non-
European
opinion."
What
the
authors
ask
is
first
that
the
Australian
government
declare
the
White
Australia
policy
at
an
end.
(A
quibble
at
this
point
is
that
the
government
already
says White
Australia
is
a
misnomer,
because
a
few
non-Europeans
are
admitted
as
permanent
residents
each
year. But
the authors
of
this
book
dismiss
this
as
hypocrisy.)
Then
they
ask
the
Australian
government
to
negotiate
immigration
agree-
ments
with
a
number
of
non-European
countries. They
do
not
advocate
quotas,
nation
by
nation;
but
they
do
ask
that
Australia
aim
to
admit
a
total
of
1500
non-Europeans
per
year,
for
a
trial
period
of
about
five
years,
after
which
it
should
be
possible
to
increase
the intake.
At
first,
half
the
number admitted
should
be
the
close
relatives
of
Asians
already
settled
in
Australia;
the
other
half
should
be
persons
selected
from
a
broad
range
of
occupations,
capable
of
being
socially
and
economically
absorbed
into
Australian
communities.
Any
persistent
evidence
that
Australian
economy
or
society
is
failing
to
absorb these
newcomers
would
lead
to
temporary
reduction
in
the
number admitted,
or
complete
cessation
if
necessary.
These
are
moderate
suggestions.
Their moderation
has
not
brought
them
the
respect
they
deserve.
Arthur
Calwell,
leader
of
the
Labour
Party,
an
unreconstructed
advocate
of
White
Australia,
has
contributed
(at
the authors'
request)
a
statement
to
the
book,
defending
his
position
rather
lamely,
and
attacking the reformers
in
a
way
that
shows
how
he
misconceives
their
purpose,
if
he
has,
in
fact,
read
their
book
at
all.
But,
whether
the
political
leaders
agree with
these
reformers or
not,
it
seems
clear,
both
from
the
report
they
give
and
from
everyday observation,
that
a
considerable public
supports
them,
probably
well
over
half
the
voting population.
Perhaps
the
most
encouraging
thing
about
this
rather
inspiring
book is
the
evidence
it
gives
of
a
lively
public
conscience
in
Australia
on
this
sore
issue.
The
White
Australia
policy
cannot
last
much
longer.
Australian
National
University
DAVID
Co.BOrr
THE
Pohrrcs
o'
ScARciTy.
Public
Pressure
and
Political
Response
in
India.
By
Myron
Weiner.
1962.
(Chicago:
University
of
Chicago
Press.
Toronto:
University
of
Toronto
Press.
xix,
251pp.
$5.00)
Perhaps
the
most
seminal
ideas
of
the
"new"
political
science
are
functionalism
and
the
input-output
analysis
of
political
systems.
Both
are
closely
associated
with
Gabriel
Almond
and
his
colleagues
on
the
Committee
of
Comparative
Politics
of
the
American
Social
Science
Research
Council.
Myron
Weiner,
the
author
of
this
valuable
mono-
graph,
is
one of
the
bright
young
members
of
this
imaginative
group.
Professor
Almond
set
out
his
schematic
approach
in
a
pioneering
paper
which
served
as
the
model
for
a
massive
co-operative
study
of
The
Politics
of
the
Developing
Areas.
In
essence,
the
universe
of
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