Book Review: International Politics and Economics: The Making of Foreign Policy
| Author | G. de T. Glazebrook |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070206401900110 |
| Date | 01 March 1964 |
| Published date | 01 March 1964 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
BOOK
RlvrEws
85
Lord
Strang,
who
compiled
this
book
from
a
series
of
articles
and
lectures
addressed
to
differing audiences,
ends
with
some
witty
accounts
of
diplomatic practices
in
an earlier
era.
Department
of External
Affairs,
Ottawa
M.
CADIrUX
THE
MAKING
OF
FOREIGN
POLIcY.
An
Analysis
of
Decision-Making.
By
Joseph
Frankel.
1963.
(London:
Toronto:
Oxford
University
Press.
xi,
231pp.
$7.75)
As
the
title
suggests,
the
author
set
out
to
analyse
how
foreign
policy
is
made and
the
factors
that
influence
decisions.
He
is
not
con-
cerned
with
diplomacy
or
the
implementation
of
policy.
He
approaches
(perhaps
"stalks"
would
be
a
better
word)
the
subject
from many
angles, relentlessly
and
with
an apparent
determination
to
leave
nothing
unexplained.
In
places
this
care
seems
to
be
pressed unduly,
as,
for
example, when
he
writes
that
"the
decision
to
consider
an
issue
is
the
first,
indispensable step
without
which
no
substantive
decision
can
be
reached."
One
wonders,
too,
whether
the
use
of
phrases
such
as
"deter-
minism-voluntarism"-of
which
there
are
many---could
not
have
been
avoided
when
the author
himself
follows
up
with the
simple
and
more
meaningful
question,
"how
free
are
decision-makers
to
act".
Attention
has
been
drawn
to
the
characteristics of
Professor
Frankel's
book
since
they
may
well-and
unfortunately-discourage
those
who
would,
if
patient,
find
a
full and
balanced
analysis
of
a
subject about
which
little
of
value
has
been
written.
Broadly,
he
follows
the
sound
argument
that
states attempt
to
design
foreign
policies
which
suit
their
national
interests
as
they
see
them, their
freedom
of
action
being
limited
by
the
strength
of
the
state
concerned
and
by
the
international
situation
(the
"international
environment"),
their
process
being
further
modified
by
the
political
situation
in
the
country
itself
and
the
mental
capacity
of
those
who
make
the
decisions.
Mr.
Frankel
takes
us
through
a
series
of
aspects:
who
makes
decisions;
the
types
of
advisers
at
their
disposal;
the
influence
of
the
world
situation,
public
opinion,
political
parties,
and
the
interaction
of
foreign
and
domestic
aims.
In
the
course
of this
series he
runs
inevi-
tably
into
the
question
of
the
relationship
between
those
he
classifies
as
"decision-makers"
and
"administrators".
Though
noting
the
opinion
of
other
writers
and
giving
a
number
of
interesting
examples, he
wisely
refrains
from
making
any
simple deduction except
for
the
over-simpli-
fication,
"their
[the
superiors]
policy
must
be
acceptable to
their
sub-
ordinates
if
they
wish
them
to
be
successfully
executed".
Perhaps,
on
second
thoughts,
one
could
agree
that
the
word
"acceptable"
could
be
the starting-point
of
another
monograph.
This
reviewer
had
some
difficulty
with
the
chapter
on
"Values",
but
was
relieved
to
find
that
"no
single
value
predominates
in
foreign
policy".
However,
the
study
of
values
is
further
pursued
leading to
the
explanation
that
"principles
of
behaviour
result
from
the
direct
influence
of
values
on
political
activity
but
must
be
distinguished
from
objec-
tives".
One
is
later
reassured
by
finding
that
"at
times
it
is
impossible
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