Book Reviews
| Published date | 01 January 1968 |
| Date | 01 January 1968 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1002/j.1099-162X.1968.tb00324.x |
Book Reviews
New Federations: Experiments in the Commonwealth, by R. L. WATTS.
Clarendon Press, Oxford 1966; pp. xii,
417,7
maps;
70S.
Professor Watts' bookis an extremely thorough treatment of the constitutions
of
six federations created in the Commonwealth since 1945: India, Pakistan,
Malaya, the West Indies, Nigeria, Central Africa.
The
subject is a great one,
that of the attempt to create viable states out of the dissolution of an empire
which had to some extent existed by the principle of division; success and
failure in this enterprise have both been importantin shaping the character of
the post-colonial world. It is a pity therefore that Professor Watts has written
a dull book; perhaps he chose to do so.
In his preface he claims no more than
"the
preliminary mapping
of
a large
field", but he hasin fact done much more. He has read (it is safe to say) more
than anyone else of the published material relating to these six: and as he read
he organized. His book is basically a multi-dimensional grid or search device
which enables the user to compare quickly (for instance) text and commentary
relating to the second chamber and its place in constitutional amendment in
any two (or more)
ouc
of
the six federations discussed. Nor is he obtuse about
the relations between law, convention, polity and society; chapter 5, on
"The
Nature of Federal Societies" can stand by itselfas an interesting essay on the
relation between juridical and sociological conceptions offederalism. But the
principles on which his grid is organized seem somehow inadequate to the
greatness of the subject; the net catches too many small fish, and no big ones.
There are too many sentences like this:
"The
conclusions in the preceding
section suggest that the suitability
of
federal institutions in the developing
countries will depend upon whether the particular form
of
federal
system constructed gives full expression to the desires of the society in
question" (p. 35). Any single quotation is certain to be unfair: one
could match such empty sentences with others which make excellent
practical sense.
The
book is absolutely invaluable as a work of reference,
but
it leaves one puzzled about method. Professor Watts's method seems
to be an extremely good one for organizing material formally, but it leads
to no general
~conclusions.
Perhaps no better method could be found?
One
of
the difficultiesis that of "stop press news". Two
of
the six federations
(those of Central Africa and ofthe British West Indies) have collapsed and are
fit subjects for a post
mortem.
But the other four are being tested day by day;
and to the uncertainty of their fate further confusion has been added by the
British tendency to play with federal notions where there is no real place for
them. Has the fate of Uganda or of Southern Arabia anything to do with th e
concept "federation" ?
Another difficulty is that these six cases are all extremely different: I think
this could be said of India and Pakistan. What they have in common is formal,
and this breeds formal analysis, because an attempt at more fundamental
analysis would involve one in looking hard at historical, economic and social
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