Book Review: Far East: The Dimensions of Conflict in Southeast Asi
| Published date | 01 September 1966 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070206602100341 |
| Author | W. M. Dobell |
| Date | 01 September 1966 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
BOOK
REVIEWS
405
THE
DIMENSIONS
OF
dONF'LICT
IN
SOUTHEAST
ASIA.
By
Bernard
K.
Gordon.
1966.
(Englewood
Cliffs:
Toronto: Prentice-Hall.
xiv
201pp.
Cloth-
bound
$6.00.
Paperback
$3.00)
Bernard
Gordon
has
provided
us
with
seven
chapters
on
conflict
and
co-operation in
Southeast
Asia.
He
presents
the
Manila
outlook
on
Maphilindo
as
a
second-best
development
arising
from
President
Macapagal's
frustration
over
his
failure
to
consummate
his
Sabah
claim
and
his
Foreign
Under-Secretary's desire
for
a
rapproachment
with
Djakarta.
A
shrewd
sketch
of
Sihanouk
shows
Cambodia
not
as
the
victim
of
cold
war
tensions
but
as
instigator
and
beneficiary
The
theory
that
Sukarno's confrontation
policy
was
to
shift
attention
from
domestic
problems
is
rejected,
however-
Timor
would
have served
that
purpose
far
more
readily
But
an
excellent
case
is
constructed
that
Sukarno
by
June
1963
was anxious
to
end
confrontation,
provided
that
a
face-saving
formula
could be
found.
Linking
these
chapters
is
the
implication
that
Macapagal,
Sihanouk
and Sukarno
were
trouble-
makers;
Malaysia
and
Thailand
appear
only
indirectly
and
as
aggrieved
parties.
Somewhat
repetitively
the
protagonists
are
re-examined
in
chapter
four.
Designations
are
arbitrarily
assigned
to
countries
where
per
sonality
leadership
is
important
(P)
and
to where
it is
negligible
(NP).
Indonesian-Malaysian
relations
become
P
x
NP--NP
and
Cambodian-
Thai relations
P--
x
P- = P --
This
particular
tack
does
not
prove
rewarding
though,
and
we
soon
leave
the
symbols
behind.
Turning
to the
evidence of co-operation
in
the area,
Gordon
points
to the
Economic
Commission
for
Asia
and
the
Far
East
and
the
Asian
Development
Bank,
and
supports
adoption
of
the
principle
of
comparative
advantage
on
a
regional
basis.
He moves
on
to
his
long-term
hope,
the
Association
of
South-East
Asia.
He
ends
by
stressing
future
Indonesian
membership
as
the
key
to
stability
and
to
secure
it
suggests
renaming
ASA
the
Association
of
Southeast
Asian
New
Emerging
Forces.
Sukarno's
vanity
has
been well
known,
but
has
he
ever
been
vain
enough
to
swallow
that
transparency?
This
is a
very
up-to-date
and
easily
grasped
study
of
some
aspects
of
foreign
relations
in
Southeast
Asia
during the
last
four
years.
It
has
a
few
new
ministerial
quotations
useful
for
scholars;
but
its
style
and
the
Spectrum
series
of which
it
is
a
part
indicate
an
undergraduate
and
current
events
course
market.
This
is
a
pity
since
it is
not
a
book
to
be
read
on
its
own.
The
dust-cover
proclaims
it
to
be
the
first
analysis
of
international
politics
within
Southeast
Asia,
and
one
which
clarifies
the
major
foreign
policies
of
the area.
Yet
Gordon
dismisses
the
Vietnam
War
and
the
two
Vietnams
in
four
lines
as
effectively
removed
from
the
region's
international
politics.
East
Pakistan
is
ignored,
presumably
(and plausibly)
because
it is
really
outside
the
area.
Laos
is
incom-
prehensibly
ignored.
Burma
is
forecast
as
a
state
whose
foreign
policy
is
to
be
studied,
but this
is
never
attempted.
What
the Dimensions
of
Conflict
unfortunately
lacks
is
any
sense
of
dimension. This
is
not
merely
Hamlet
without
the
Prince;
this
is
Hamlet
after
half
the
cast
has
been
sent
off
to
the undertaker.
University
of
Western
Ontario
W
M.
DOB3ELL
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