Book Review: Western Europe: Germany between East and West, Germany. Yesterday and Tomorrow, the Grand Design
| DOI | 10.1177/002070206702200142 |
| Published date | 01 March 1967 |
| Author | Jean Edward Smith |
| Date | 01 March 1967 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
130
INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL
of
just
how
successful
the
Public Service
has
been
in
carrying
out
the
tasks
it
was
assigned
of
coordinating
development
in
a
federal
state.
Perhaps
such
an
assessment
must await
more
specialized
analyses
of
performance
in individual
departments.
But
this
reviewer
would
have
enjoyed
more
attempts
at
interpretation
in
place
of
the
detailed
accounts
of
the
endless
and tiresome
rangling
over
compensation
between
public
officials
and
employee
associations.
But
this
comment
may
only
bear
out
the
author's
own
appeal
for
more
research.
Duke Unsversity
CRAUFURD
D.
GOODWIN
PoLUIcAL
PARTIEs
IN
NEW
ZEALAND.
By
R. S. Milne.
1966.
(Oxford:
Claren-
don
Press.
Toronto: Oxford
Umversity
Press.
viii,
313pp.
$8.50)
Professor
R.
S.
Milne
concludes
this
study
with
the
observation,
the
raison
d'dtre
of
political
activity
must
surely
be
that
it
helps
to
solve
political
problems
or
that
it
satisfies
the
desire
for
social,
rather
than
specifically
political,
activity. But
in
New
Zealand
most
major
political
problems
have
been
solved,
and
it
is
likely
that
the
spread
of
television
will
reduce
the
number
of
people
who
engage
in
politics
mainly
for
social
reasons.
Throughout
the work
the
Oxford-trained
author,
now
head
of
the
Department
of
Political
Science
at
the
University
of
British
Columbia,
betrays
his
regret
for
the
increasing
professionalization
of
politics
and
the progressive
decline
in
the
role
of
the
voluntary
worker,
develop-
ments
which
in New
Zealand
have
resulted
in
the National
Party
emerging
as
a
more
effective
machine
than
its
Labour rival.
It
is
this
very
professionalization
that
has
attracted
other
students
to
the
investi-
gation
of
party
organization.
This
pioneer study
of
the
actual
operation
of
political
parties
in
New
Zealand
is
the
product
of
personal
interviews
dating
back
into
the
1950's,
when
he
taught
in
New
Zealand,
and
of
wide
reading
in
the
relevant
literature.
Milne
traces
the
histories
of
the
parties
which
have
fused
into
the present National
Party
and
of
the
Labour
Party.
He
analyses
their
operational
practices
from
constituency
to national
level
and
their
relationships
to
other
interest
groups,
such
as
the Federation
of
Labour, the
Farmers'
Union,
and
the
Manufacturers' Federation.
In
discussing
such topics
as
the
processes
employed
in
selecting
local
can-
didates,
party
leaders, and
cabinet
minsters,
he
makes
extended
com-
parisons
with
Australian
and
British
practices.
This
book
provides
rewarding reading
for
those with
some
prior
knowledge
of
and
interest
in
the
New
Zealand
political
scene.
Unnversity
of
Waterloo
K.
A.
MACKIRDY
Western Europe
GERMANY
BETWEEN
EAST
AND
WEST.
The
Reunification
Problem.
By
Frederick
H.
Hartmann.
1965.
(Englewood
Cliffs:
Toronto:
Prentice-
Hall.
ix,
181pp.
Clothbound
$4.95.
Paperbound
$2.25)
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