Book Review: Russia's Danubian Empire
| Date | 01 December 1955 |
| Published date | 01 December 1955 |
| Author | A. W. Wainman |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070205501000415 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
BOOK
REVIEWS
299
masses.
As
a
result,
the
vital
power
struggles
go
on
outside
the
formal
constitutional
framework
and
the
constitutions
them-
selves
are not
grounded
in
a
consensus.
This
pessimistic
view
is
not
shared
by
Carl
J.
Friedrich
who
discusses
the
political
theory
of
the
new
constitutions
in
an
essay
of
comparable
interest
to
that
of Loewenstein.
When
he
wrote
in
1951,
he
thought-and
nothing
has
happened
in
the interval
to
prove
him
wrong-that
the
"third
force,"
a
combination
of
Christian
Democrats
and
Social
Democrats,
had
mobilized
wide-
spread
support
for
constitutions
designed
to preserve
essential
liberal
values
while
making
way
for
a
socialized
non-bourgeois
economy.
Whether
or
not
a
constitution with
these
aims
is
viable
or
not,
there
is
ground
for
saying
that
this
is
as
close
to
a
consensus
as
the
peoples
of
the
west
European
countries
can
come
at
the
present
time.
Loewenstein
doubts
whether
such
a
constitution
is
viable,
and
thinks
these
doubts have
penetrated
so
deeply
into
the
European
consciousness
as
to
prevent
the
consolidation
of
the
consensus
Friedrich
hopes
for.
These
two
essays
throw
a
great
deal
of
light
on
the
essential
political
problem
of
western
Europe.
Queen's
University
J.
A.
CORRY
RussIA's
DANUBIAN
EMPItRE.
By
Gordon
Shepherd.
1954.
(London:
Heinemann; Toronto:
British
Book
Service.
262
pp.)
At
last
a
book
has
appeared
allowing
us
to
view
in
perspective
the
main events
and
developments
which
have
taken
place
in
the
Danubian
satellites
since
1945.
Nobody
will
query
the
credentials
of
the author,
Mr.
Gordon
Shepherd,
who
has
resided in
Vienna
since
1945,
first
with
the
Allied
Commission
and
later
as
correspondent
for the Daily
Tele-
graph,
in
which
latter
capacity he
has
travelled
widely
in
Central
Europe,
in
addition
to having
a
front
seat
in
the
Austrian
capital
from
which
he
could
observe
events in
the
neighbouring
countries.
Mr.
Shepherd
is fundamentally
objective
in
his
approach.
He
admits
that
many
of
the
changes have
come
to
stay
and
that
"the
economic
and
social
eruption
in
Eastern
Europe
is
to
some
extent
a
natural
one
...
even
if
the
political
revolution
in
its
present
form
is
an
artificially
imposed
one
which
must
eventually
change
or
perish."
Again
"the
Communists,
even
by
our
standards,
have
done
a
little
good
in
the
social
and
economic
fields
from
the
right
motives
and
perhaps
a
great
deal
more
from
the
wrong
motives."
But
if
progress
may
have
thus
re-
To continue reading
Request your trial