Book Reviews
| Published date | 01 September 1975 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9299.1975.tb00224.x |
| Date | 01 September 1975 |
Book
Reviews
Policy-Making
in
the
German Federal
Republic
Renate Mayntz and Fritz
W.
Scharpf. Elsevier,
1975.
Pp.
184.
D.fl.
31.00.
In general
I
am against the sort of
review that opens with complaints
about the style of modem sociologi-
cal writing. not because the criticism
is
misplaced but because the ploy
has become tedious. Facile also: ignor-
ing
the substance for the form, the
reviewer simplifies his task but leaves
the reader with little information
about the contents of the work
on
which he is supposed to be reporting.
I
hesitated
a
long time, therefore,
before committing this review to
paper, but
I
see
no
way round the
question of style.
It
cannot be said that Renate
Mayntz and Fritz Scharpf write in
a
style which is incomprehensible. The
amount of jargon-specialist terms
unfamiliar to the ordinarily educated
reader -is not excessive.
Nor
does
the fact that the authors‘ native
language is German lead to infelici-
ties of style: both have American
academic backgrounds and that is
perhaps the root of the trouble.
Technical words are piled up
in
complex sentences that make no
immediate impact, though the careful
reader can make sense of what is said
if he takes it slowly and concentrates
on every word.
Let me illustrate by four relatively
simple key sentences from the intro-
duction:
(I)
‘The differentiation and con-
nectedness of the underlying
societal sub-processes require
a
corresponding degree of
complexity
at
policy level.’
(2)
‘The dynamic character of
problem-generating processes
and the requisite complexity
of solutions combine to
in-
crease the minimal time span
required for effective policies.’
(3)
‘If dynamic social-economic
processes should approach to-
wards critical boundaries of
ecological, social or individual
systems capacity, effective
solutions need to change the
speed and direction of such
processes.’
(4)
‘Political problem-solving pro-
cesses will not achieve subs-
tantive control of societal
processes unless they can
maintain
a
high degree of
relative autonomy from any
specific societal interests.’
Now, these four statements are
intended to ‘characterize in
a
highly
abstract fashion’ the sort of policies
that can be effective in a complex and
changing environment.
It
is not the
abstraction that is the problem,
it
is
the flow of words (each
of
the above
sentences opens
a
paragraph in the
same style). Put into simple English
-
and they can be
put
into simple
English-they would occupy
a
third
of the space or less.
Reduced in size (without serious
loss
of content) and shorn of
its
pseduo-scientific clothes (without loss
of meaning), the book would have
been more accessible to those actively
concerned with administrative reform.
Perhaps the educated public
in
Ger-
32’
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