Book Review: U.S.S.R. and Eastern Europe: The Soviets in International Organizations
| Published date | 01 December 1965 |
| Date | 01 December 1965 |
| Author | Stephen Clarkson |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070206502000431 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
560
INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL
by
the
polemical
bitterness
which
creeps
in
to
many
of
his
references
to
communism. (Worthy
of
note
in
this
connection
is
the
fact that
the
publisher
does
not list,
among
Seton-Watson's
other
works,
his
well-known
study
of
Eastern
Europe between
the
wars,
one
of
his
most original
works,
which
was
marked,
however,
by
a more
favour-
able
treatment
of
communism
and
of
the
Soviet
Union!)
The
book
concludes
with
a
final
potpourri
on
international
problems,
the
best
of
which,
dealing
with
Soviet
scholarly
analysis
of
the
"national
bour-
geoisie",
was
already
published in
Kurt
London's
Unity
and
Contradic-
tion (Praeger,
1962).
In
sum,
this
collection
hardly
adds
to
the
deserved-
ly
high
reputation
of
the
author
and
does
not
rank
with
his
other
more
systematic
works.
University
of
Toronto
H.
GORDON
SKILLING
THE
SOVIETS
IN
INTERNATIONAL
ORGANIZATIONS.
Changing
Policy
Toward
Developing Countries,
1953-1963.
By
Alvin
Z.
Rubinstein.
1964.
(Princeton:
Princeton
University
Press.
Toronto:
Saunders.
xix,
3
80pp.
$7.50)
Professor
Rubinstein
has
used
various
approaches
to
identify
the
subject
of his
study:
the
nature
and
reasons
for
the
post-Stalinist
Soviet
policy
of
courting the
ex-colonial
nations
by
support
in
the
international
forum
of
the
United
Nations
for their
claims
against
the
West.
He
has
analysed
the
Soviet
policy
itself
by
making
several
case studies
of
Russian
activity
in
such
specialized
agencies as
the
Expanded
Pro-
gramme
of
Technical
Assistance
and
found
a
behaviour
pattern
which
can
be
summarized
as
maximum
propaganda
at
minimum financial
cost.
By
interviewing
officials
of
the
Afro-Asian
nations
he
has
discovered
that
Soviet
reluctance to
support
the
cause
of
multilateral
aid
has
been
more
than
compensated
in
their
eyes
by
the
moral support
extended
to
the
developing
nations
by
Marxism-Leninism's
anti-imperialist
radical-
ism.
He
has
looked
through the
faCade
of
the
offical
United
Nations
Association
and
the
Soviets'
unimpressive
scholarly and popular writ-
ings
on
international
organizations
to
establish
that
Soviet
mistrust
of
the
United
Nations
is
reflected
in
a
general
lack
of
concern with
in-
forming
their
own
public.
The
combination
of
these
studies
does
build
up
a
satisfyingly
complete
picture
of
this
aspect
of Soviet
policy; how-
ever
it
hardly
justifies
the
exaggerated
claim made
in
Philip
E.
Jacobs'
preface
that
Rubinstein
has
made
a
methodological
innovation
labelled
"triangulation"-gratuitous
jargon
for
a quite
normal
scholarly
tech-
nique.
The
study
has the
great
merit
of
balance.
While
Rubinstein puts
a
spotlight
on
the
machiavellianism
of Soviet
policy
in
the
United
Nations,
he
does
show
how
this
policy
is
motivated
by
Marxism-
Leninism's
profound
distrust
of
the
"imperialist"
powers
who
still
clearly
dominate
these
international institutions.
To
the
extent
that
Sovet
misgivings
are
grounded
on
such
realities
as
the
communist
countries' under-representation
in
the
various
secretariats,
Rubinstein
concludes
that
only
concessions
on
these
grievances can undermine
the
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