Book Review: International Politics and Economics: Parliament as an Export
| DOI | 10.1177/002070206702200113 |
| Author | John E. Kersell |
| Date | 01 March 1967 |
| Published date | 01 March 1967 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
96
INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL
Beaufre,
which
have
provided
an
intellectual underpinning
to Gaullist
military
and
alliance
policy.
The
main
interest
of
the
book lies in
this
approach
for,
really
it
contains
nothing
that
is
new.
It
is
a
pity
in
a
publication
intended,
presumably,
for
the
non-specialist
reader
that
the
shortness
of
the
book
does
not
allow
the
arguments
to
be
presented
in
more
than
survey
form.
I
feel
that
if
the
author
had
devoted
less
space
to
the rehearsal
of
an
historical
narrative
already
well
known
he
might
have
dealt
more
adequately with
the
current
Franco-Amencan
strategic
and
political
impasse.
As
it
is,
the
non-specialist
may
well
have
difficulty
in
following
M.
Legault's
argument.
Nevertheless,
many
of
the
premises
and assumptions
of
the
current
strategic
debate
within
NATO
are
presented and
the
author
does
point
out
that
this
debate
takes
place
within
a
political
context.
The
argu-
ment,
though,
frequently
remains
at
the
level
of
assertion
and
the
reader,
himself,
is
left
to
provide
the
evidence
and
logical
steps
which
will
take
him
from
premise
to
conclusion.
This
is
the
case
when
the
factor
of
"uncertainty"
is
discussed
in
relation
to
deterrence.
This
ques-
tion
of
uncertainty
has
been
made
much
of
in
French
writing
and
the
emphasis
given
to
it
provides
a
point
of
contrast
with
the
received
American position.
But
the
validity
of
the
concept
as
an
especially
important
factor
in
deterrence
is by no
means
generally
accepted
and
the
author
fails
to
justify the
stress
which
he
gives
to
the
concept
in
his
analysis.
Other
examples
of
this
kind
could be
cited.
M.
Legault
has
made
wide
use
of
both
French
and
American
writ-
ings
relevant
to
his
theme
as
both the
text
and
the
useful brief
biblio-
graphy
show.
Tins allows
the
important
insight
to
emerge
that
on
the
two
sides
of
the
Atlantic exist
real
differences
of
intellectual
approach
to
these problems.
Differences which
cannot
be
ignored
if
the
Atlantic
Alliance
is
to
continue
to
be
a
fruitful
forum
for
the
transatlantic
dialogue.
Unsver8ity
of
Manitoba
P
E.
BuTEux
PARLIAMENT
AS
AN
EXPORT.
Edited
by
Sir
Alan
Burns.
1966.
(London:
George
Allen
&
Unwm.
Toronto:
Nelson.
271pp.
$8.75)
This
collection
of
essays
on
almost
a
dozen
related
aspects
of
the
parliamentary
system-or
as
Sir
Hilary
Blood
suggests,
the parliamen-
tary "method"-appears
to
suffer
from
at
least three
major
difficulties.
Many of
the contributors
do
not
address
themselves
to the
question
of
exportability
of
the
"method"
and
most
do
not
attempt
an
answer.
Second,
few
of
them
seem
to
have
known
even
the
general
direction
of
arguments
others
were
planning
to
make.
Finally,
unlike
its
earlier
companion
piece,
Parliament:
A
Survey
(edited
by
the
late
Lord
Cam-
pion),
it
contains
neither an
introduction
nor
a
conclusion.
The
essays,
with
a
couple
of
arresting
exceptions,
are
largely
descriptive
and
historical.
Some,
like
Sir
Cecil
Carr's,
are
extremely
informative,
interesting
and
accurate.
Even
when
authors
such
as
Ivor
Bulmer-Thomas
and
Sir
John
Fletcher-Cooke
rise
to
the
challenge
of
the
question,
however,
they
argue
at
confusing
cross-purposes.
Sir
John
points
out
that,
at
least
in
Africa,
parliamentary
methods
(including
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