Book Review: Military and Scientific Affairs, Administrating the Atom for Peace
| DOI | 10.1177/002070206401900415 |
| Author | Arthur W. MacMahon |
| Date | 01 December 1964 |
| Published date | 01 December 1964 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
BOOK REVIEWS
565
Military
and
Scientific
Affairs
ADMINISTRATING
THE
ATOM
FOR
PEACE.
By
J.
E.
Hodgetts.
1964.
(New
York:
Atherton
Press.
xi,
193pp.
$6.50)
The
comparative
study
of
administration
is
invited
by
the
novelties
of
atomic
energy, not
least
the
ambivalence
of
its
uses
for
peace
and
war.
A
topical
analysis,
aided
by
descriptive
accounts
of six
countries,
was
an
appropriate
undertaking
for
the
joint
auspices
of
the
Inter-
national
Political
Science
Association
and
UNESCO
and
for
discussion
at
the
Association's
1961
Congress.
Professor
Hodgetts
of
Queens Uni-
versity
(the
rapporteur gdn6ral
at
that
session)
has
wisely
chosen
to
write
an
independent
treatise
that
makes
the
country-by-country
treat-
ment
a subordinate
element
in
a
series
of
chapters
on
certain
main
issues
of
organization
and
policy.
The
author's
acknowledgment
permits
him to
draw
on
the
earlier
working
papers
without
the clutter
of
detailed references.
He
notes
that
the
country
studies
are
available
in mimeographed
form
at
the
Paris
office
of
the
Association:
by
Henri
Puget
on
France,
Luigi
Citarella
on
Italy,
Yoshio
Kawashima
on
Japan,
J.
W.
Grove
on
the
United Kingdom,
the
late
Robert
G.
Cutler
on
the
United
States,
and
Paul
C.
Szasz
on
the International
Atomic
Energy
Agency
and
related
bodies.
The
author's
synthesis
and judgments
are
his
own.
Beginning
with
the
question
of
the
need
for
special
authorities,
he
accepts
as
sound
the
verdict
of
practice
in
the
six
countries
and
in
the
international
spheres
that
the
ambivalent
nature
of
atomic
energy has
justified
a
departure
from
conventional
forms of
departmental
structure.
The
scale
of
the
enterprise
also supported
the
tendency
toward
a
separate
and
sometimes
multiple
organisation.
One
notes
"that
in
both
Canada and
in
Japan,
which have
only
peaceful atomic-energy
programs,
current
allocations
represent
approximately
one-quarter
of
each
nation's
total
budget
for
scientific
and
developmental
purposes."
In tracing
the
initial
action
of
the
United
States
in
creating
an
independent
commission
the
author
may
not
sufficiently
stress
that
country's
habit
in
using
autonomous
boards
for
regulatory
work.
Today
(as
indeed
the
author
observes)
suggestions
are
heard
for
a
single
administrator
in
place
of
the
five-man
commission.
Meanwhile
the
sheer
bulk
of
its
outlays
are
overshadowed
by
the
programmes
of
research
and
development
which
are
conducted
through
somewhat
different
contractual
methods
by
the
National
Aero-
nautics
and
Space
Administraton.
After
comparing
the
ways
in
which
the
several
countries
and
international
bodies
worked
out
the
common
pattern
of
a distinctive
treatment for
atomic
energy
and
especially
for
its
peaceful uses,
Pro-
fessor
Hodgetts
examines
the three
main
clusters
of
administrative
activity:
the
provision of
nuclear
materials;
research
and
development;
and
regulation. Against
the
background of
autonomous
structure
for
the
conduct
of
these
functions,
he
comments on
the
problems of
co-
ordination and
accountability.
As
to
the
first
he
does
not
find
it
strange
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