Book Review: Problems of Public and Private International Law
| Published date | 01 March 1957 |
| Date | 01 March 1957 |
| DOI | 10.1177/004711785700100508 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
wealther", Ignoring the disastrous developments on the Continent it was
entirely dominated by the imperial connection. There was an equally complete
lack of interest displayed in the social and economicproblems of Britain between
the wars. He failed to appreciate the dangers implicit in the rise of Hitler or
to
realize
that
the old balance of power, obtaining up to 1914,
had
gone for ever.
The gutter politics of the Nazis, mass unemployment, mass education and mass
entertainment were all equally outside hiscomprehension. As aresult at acrucial
point in
our
history the great influence of the Times was used to back the policies
that
led us straight to Munich and the Second World War. High-mindedness
and devotion to duty are, sadly, not enough, without insight the generations
perish.
The Formation of The Soviet Union. Richard Pipes. Harvard University Press.
London, Cumberlege. 52/-.
This is the first account to appear of the foundation of the Soviet Empire.
With a wealth of detail the author tells the story of the expansion and final
disintegration of the old Russian Empire
and
the emergence of a multinational
Communist State from its ruins. He shows how the Bolsheviks first exploited
the nationalism of the peoples of the Ukraine, Belorussia, the Caucasus, Central
Asia
and
the Volga-Ural regions, which
had
remained largely semi-autonomous
under the Tsars, first to overthrow the remnants of the old regime, and then by
means of external pressure combined with clever manipulation of the political
immaturity, internal strife and economic difficulties which beset the newly
enfranchised areas, many of them primitive and backward. to subject them to a
highly centralized Great Russian tyranny. The same techniques were
later
employed in the satellite States of the Baltic and South-East Europe. The conflict
within the Communist Party over the policy to be pursued in dealing with
the
nationalities is well brought out. But the political foundation stone of the Soviet
Empire is still the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in spite of the fact
that
"it
is a unitary
~centralized,
totalitarian] state such as the tsarist state
had never been," and the methods employed in the unification of the
area
have ensured that there remain latent potent sources of stress and strain within
it. Mr. Pipes conclusion that
"by
granting the minorities extensive linguistic
autonomy and by placing the national territorial principle at the base of the
state's political administration, the Communists gave constitutional recognition
to the multi-national structure of the Soviet populations" gives considerable food
for thought, more especially in the light of current developments, as to
the
eventual shape that the Soviet Empire will assume. A most valuable study.
indispensable for all who wish to understand the springs of Soviet policy.
Problems of Public and Private International Law. Transactions of the Grotius
Society for 1954. 25/-.
Amongst the valuable and authoritative papers contained in the current volume
of the transactions of the GrotiusSociety three are of special interest to the general
student of international affairs. Judge N. V. Boeg deals with the Review of the
United Nations Charter, N. C. W.
Dunbar
with the Legal Regulation of Modern
Warfare, both subjects of outstanding importance, and there is an interesting
disquisition on the position of the international civil servant in relation to his
employer and to his State by L. C. Green. On the whole Judge Boeg, while in
favour of a Conference to consider the
Charter
and to recommend minor changes
in drafting and an attempt to write into the document an agreed definition of the
term "procedural" to temper the use of the veto, is against any attempt to make
any radical alteration in its provisions. Mr.
Dunbar
makes a cogent plea for the
promulgation of a Declaration of
Human
Rights in the form of a charter
of
fundamental and minimum human rights which the nations would be prepared
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