Book Review: International Politics and Economics: Halfway to 1984

AuthorFrank H. Underhill
Published date01 March 1967
Date01 March 1967
DOIhttp://doi.org/10.1177/002070206702200111
Subject MatterBook Review
BooK
REVIEWS
95
HALFWAY
TO
1984.
By
Gladwyn
Jebb, Lord
Gladwyn.
1966.
(New
York:
Columbia
University
Press.
Toronto:
Copp
Clark.
viii,
89pp.
$3.95)
Considering
the
great
reputation
which
Gladwyn
Jebb
won
for
himself
when
he
was
British
spokesman
at
the
United
Nations,
this
little
book
is
disappointing.
It
lacks
the
incisive
wit
and
the urbane
irony
which
made him
such
a
delightful
contrast
to
his
Soviet
opponents.
It
contains
the
text
of
three
lectures
delivered
at
Columbia
Umver
sity.
The
title
arises
from the
fact
that
the
lectures
were
given
just
eighteen
years
after
1948,
when
George
Orwell
wrote
his
famous
book,
and
eighteen
years
before
1984,
the
date
he
set
for
the
final
victory
of
anti-Utopian
totalitarianism
on
Airstrip
One.
But
Lord
Gladwyn
has
little
of Orwell's
acute
sensitivity
to
the
evils
inherent
in
the
power
politics
of
our
modern world.
Or,
at
any
rate,
his cure
for
them
is
a
strong
dose
of
the
bland
rationality
of
the
optimistic
Enlightenment
of
the
eighteenth century.
And
I
am
inhibited
in
criticizing his
book
be-
cause
I
do
not
know
of
any
better
prescription
for
the
malaise
of our
times.
As
an
English
liberal
Lord
Gladwyn
believes
in
all
the
right
things:
the gradual
growth
of
an
allegiance
to
something
wider
than the
nation
state
("It
is
not nations
that
are
responsible
for
our
modern
anarchy but
only
nation-states."),
British
entry into
the
European
Common
Market,
the
development
of
regional associations
within
the
world-wide
association
of
the
United
Nations
(including
the
British
Commonwealth,
which
is,
of
course,
not
a
regional
association
at
all),
a
new
Marshall Plan
for
assistance
to
the
whole
planet,
acquiescence
by
the
United
States
in
revolutions m
many
of
the
more
backward
communities.
As
a
cool
diplomat
he
refuses
to
be
too
much
worried
by
nuclear proliferation,
or
by
the
danger
of
Chinese
aggression
in
South-East
Asia,
or
by
the
world population
explosion,
or
by
some
possible
great
war
sweeping
over
Africa.
He
does,
however,
worry
a
bit
about
the
basic
mass
hysteria
of our
modern world.
He
is
so
sensible
and reasonable
throughout,
both
in
his
analysis
of
events
since
1945
and
m his
conclusions
for
the
future,
that
the
book
becomes
rather
dull. At
any
rate
it
is
not
stimulating
enough
to
justify
the
price
of
$3.95
for
a
little
volume
of
one
hundred
pages
with
not
more
than
two
hundred
words
on
each
page.
Ottawa
FRANK
H.
UNDERHILL
DETERRENCE
AND
THE
ATLANTIc
ALLIANCE.
By
Albert
Legault.
1966.
(Tor-
onto:
Canadian
Institute
of
International
Affairs.
xv,
103pp. $2.00)
The purpose
of
this
book, so
the
author
tells
us,
is
to
analyze
politico-
military
problems
within
the
context
of
strategic
deterrence.
And,
in
particular,
to
make
a
synthesis
of
the
problems
confronting
the
Atlantic
Alliance.
A
large
purpose
for
a
book
of
100
pages. The
author
fails
to
fulfil his purpose.
He
provides
instead a
condensed
survey
of
current
American
and
NATO
strategic
doctrines.
M.
Legault's
critique and analysis
are
strongly
influenced
by
the
current
French
strategic
school,
particularly
the
writings
of
General

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