Book Reviews
| Published date | 01 January 1969 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1002/j.1099-162X.1969.tb00363.x |
| Date | 01 January 1969 |
Book
Reviews
Politics at Home and Abroad,
WILLIAM
A. ROBSON;
George
Allen &
Unwin, pp. 299. 37s. 6d.
For
more
than
aquarter
of
acentury those who have studied public admin-
istration at all systematically will have had recourse to the writings
of
William
A. Robson, now Professor Emeritus
of
Public Administration in the Univer-
sity of London. He has been one
of
the most prolific writers on his subject
and
over the years has shown anotable perception for questions for research
and investigation which were later to become matters of major political
importance and public discussion.
Professor Robson's recent book Politics and Government at Home and
Abroad is a collection
of
essays published in periodicals and learned journals
at various times during the past ten or fifteen years. Some
of
them
have been
brought up to date.
The
author has selected
them
in the belief that they deal
with matters of continuing interest.
They
are linked, he suggests, by two
themes - the basic requirements
of
democratic politics and government, and
the
essential relation between
the
social order and the political order. Eight
essays deal with topics related to Britain and seven
of
those
of
other countries.
One
of
the many tasks
that
Professor Robson has undertaken in a very busy
life is
that
of
Joint Editor
of
the Political Quarterly, an office he has held since
it was founded in 1929. Included in this volume is an account
of
the nego-
tiations in which he engaged with George Bernard Shaw in an effort to raise
funds to start the journal and subsequently, after the difficult years
of
the
early 1930'S, to maintain it. Shaw did
not
part
with his money very easily.
"Generosity", he wrote, "is
not
aseptuagenarian quality; and my recent
compulsory munificence in
the
matter
of
supertax has left me the meanest
of
men".
He
also doubted the wisdom
of
the whole affair - castigating
quarterlies in general as
"very
ancient superstitions," and opining
that
this
one will soon become a nest of reactionaries. He did, however, eventually
part
up with £1,000, and William Robson received his postcard announcing
this on his wedding day - a day doubly blessed, indeed!
This
is not a book to be read at a single sitting. Despite
the
underlying
themes which give it a degree
of
unity, it covers a wide range
of
subjects,
and
many for whom it will hold
much
interest will no
doubt
find it easier to
assimilate in stages.
Most
readers will
not
find all its chapters
of
equal interest
but
every keen student
of
public administration (among whom
must
surely
be included
the
thoughtful public servant) will find
much
in it
that
will
broaden his intellectual horizon
and
stimulate his thinking.
For
readers
of
this Journal
the
essay on
"The
Transplantation
of
Political
Institutions
and
Ideas" will be
of
particular interest.
It
contains abroad
survey, both in time and space,
of
the forces
that
have caused countries
and
peoples to be influenced by their neighbours, and Professor Robson concludes
that
"the
transplanting
of
political institutions and ideas is or should be a
60
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