Book Review: The Public Service in New States
| Date | 01 December 1960 |
| Published date | 01 December 1960 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070206001500417 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
BOOK
REVIEWS
365
Spain
and
Sweden-and
of
the
failure
of
two
others-Norway
and
Finland-is
the
subject
of
this
book.
The
wartime
experiences
of
these
countries
are
used
to
illustrate the
circumstances
in
which
the
power
of
small
states-as
measured
by
their
ability
to
resist
the
demands
of
great
powers-can
be
maximized.
Case
studies
are
made
of some
twenty-five
distinct
crises, among
them
the
Allied
bid
for
Turkish
bel-
ligerency
in
1943,
the
negotiation
of
the
Peace
of
Moscow
with
Finland
in
March
1940,
British
demands
for
a
Norwegian
ban
on
German
shipping
through
the
Leads,
transit
rights
for
German
troops
in
Sweden
and
Spanish
reluctance
to
declare
war
on
the
West.
The analysis
of
these wartime
events
leads
Mrs.
Fox to
formulate
certain
conclusions
concerning
the
objective conditions
conducive
to
the
maintenance
of
small
power
neutrality-now
and
in
the
past.
One
factor
is
the
strategic
requirements
of
the
belligerents.
As
Stalin
told
the
hapless
Finns
in October
1939:
"I
am
sorry,
gentlemen,
we
cannot
do
anything
about
geography".
On
the other
hand, control
of
a scarce
resource
of
critical
importance
to
the
conduct
of
the
war-such
as
chrome
(Turkey),
nickel
(Finland),
iron
ore
(Sweden),
wolfram
(Spain)
or
shipping
(Norway)--strengthens
a
country's
bargaining
position.
In
the
last
resort,
however,
"the
main
boundaries
of
action"
are
set
by
"the relative
military strength
of
the
belligerents".
The
more
numer-
ous
the
great
powers
involved
and
the
more
Intense
the
competition
among
them,
the
greater
will
be
the
manoeuvrability
of
small
neutrals.
When
the
local balance
of
power
is
upset
decisively,
a
state
deter-
mined
to
remain
"neutral"
is
compelled,
as
all
five
considered
in
this
study were
at
different
times
compelled,
to bend
with
the
wind
in
an
anti-balance
of
power
direction. This
is
not
to
suggest
that
minor
powers
are
completely helpless
pawns
of
great
power
politics.
The
fate
of
such
nations still
depends
to
some
extent
on
their
own
unity
of
purpose,
the
skill
of
their
negotiators and,
above
all, on
their
"capacity
and
will
to
employ
force
to
resist
violently
an
act
of
violence".
Hitler
attacked
weakly-armed
Norway
but
by-passed
well-armed
Sweden.
"Where
each
belligerent
believes
that
a
small
neutral
can
and
will
defend
itself
against
such
attack
by
the
other
long
enough
for
effective
help
to
arrive
...
the
small
state
is
unlikely to
lose
its
neutrality".
The
Power
of
Small
States
Is
a
pioneer
work
of
immense
interest
and
solid
scholarship.
It
deserves
wide
reading
and
careful
pondering.
Canadians
will
be
particularly
interested
in
applying
Mrs.
Fox's
findings
to
their
own
position
vis-&-vis
the
Americans
and
the
Russians.
Carleton University
DouGLAS
G.
ANGLIN
TmH
PusIuc
SERvIcE
in
NEw
STATES.
A
Study in
Some
Trained
Man-
power
Problems.
By
Kenneth
Younger.
1960.
(New York:
Toronto:
Oxford
University
Press.
viii,
ll3pp.
$2.00.)
It
is
clear
that
if
independence
is
to
succeed,
a
new
state
must
be
to
some
degree
politically
mature
and
administratively
competent.
Most
news
headlines
are
given
to
the
signs
of
political
strength
or
weakness,
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