Book Reviews : Europe and Africa: From Association to Partnership, by Carol Cosgrove Twitchett, Saxon Hse, £8.50
| Author | Tom Soper |
| Date | 01 October 1978 |
| DOI | 10.1177/004711787800600211 |
| Published date | 01 October 1978 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
503
histories
of
particular
issues
or
parties.
But
the
book
is
useful
both
for
those
studying
contemporary
British
foreign
policy
and
for
those
who
enjoy
speculating
on
the
future
race
for
the
leadership
of
the
Labour
Party.
Foremost
among
European
Foreign
Ministers,
Dr.
Owen
has
become
identified
with
a
strong
position
on
human
rights.
It
is
a
pity,
however,
that
he
ignores
comment
on
the
vital
interrelationship
between
British
policy
and
the
policy
of
the
US
Administration
under
President
Carter.
But
Dr.
Owen’s
personal
commitment
to
human
rights,
economic
and
social
as
well
as
political,
is
clear,
even
if
it
is
rather
frequently
expressed
in
platitudes.
From
a
discussion
of
human
rights
in
the
UK
(a
chapter
which
would
have
been
improved
if
some
reference
had
been
made
to
Northern
Ireland,)
Dr.
Owen
proceeds
to
discuss
human
rights
abroad.
On
the
way
he
takes
in
such
issues
as
the
need
for
a
confederal
approach
to
the
European
Community
and
the
need
to
regard
Euro-Communism
with
scepticism.
He
questions,
for
example,
whether
the
PCI
or
the
PCF
and
PCE
really
are
as
wedded
to
the
idea
of
democracy
and
the
ballot
box
as
they
claim.
On
relations
with
the Soviet
Union,
he
takes
the
conven-
tional
view
of
the
need
to
maintain
a
firm
position
which,
at
the
same
time,
encourages
a
more
constructive
dialogue
based
on
clearly
defined
parameters,
which
embrace
both
cooperation
and
competition.
Dr.
Owen’s
Christian
Socialist
values
are
most
clearly
discernable
in
the
chapters
on
race
relations
in
the
UK,
apartheid,
the
UN
and
world
poverty.
To
Dr.
Owen,
the
essential
value
of
socialism
is
altruism:
&dquo;Social-
ism
means
nurturing
the
instinct
to
help
one’s
neighbour
to
live
as
part
of
a
community,
it
means
answering
the
basic
human
wishes
to
influence
their
destiny&dquo;.
He
recognises
that
such
a
position
is
fraught
with
difficul-
ties
when
the
time
comes
to
apply
actual
policies
and
that
inconsistencies
are
inevitable.
Such
a
compromise
between
conflicting
values
he
sees
not
as
a
sign
of
weakness
but
one
of
strength.
Nonetheless,
a
certain
credibility
gap
remains,
but
it is
at
least
interest-
ing
to
see
a
Foreign
Secretary
enunciate
his
personal
values
and
try
to
relate
them
to
his
foreign
policy.
Geoffrey
Edwards.
Europe
and
Africa:
From
Association
to
Partnership,
by
Carol
Cosgrove
Twitchett,
Saxon
Hse,
£8.50.
Dr.
Cosgrove
Twitchett’s
book
is
an
impressive
study
of
one
of
the
European
Communities’
most
imaginative
initiatives.
Lome
indeed
repre-
sents
one
of
the
few
really
constructive
developments
of
the
1970s
in
the
North/South
relationship
and
it
is
valuable
to
have
at
this
time,
with
a
new
round
of
Lome
negotiations
under
way,
this
dispassionate
analysis.
The
growth
of
Europe
and
African
relations
within
the
framework
of
European
Community
is
an
essential
element
in
the
story.
As
the
author
rightly
says,
&dquo;it
is
impossible
to
thrust
the
past
away
and
make
a
com-
pletely
fresh
start
in
international
relations&dquo;-one
of
those
obvious
things
so
easily
forgotten
by
many
commentators.
&dquo;At
best&dquo;,
she
continues,
&dquo;states
can
hope
to
take
the
most
positive
aspects
of
the
past
and
build
on
them&dquo;
(page
168).
This
indeed
is
precisely
what
the
EEC
has
done.
Part
IV
of
the
Treaty
of
Rome
evolved
into
Yaounde
1,
to
be
followed
by
Yaounde
2.
This
was
primarily
a
European
Community-French
African
affair;
but
it
was
fol-
lowed
by
Lome
which
now
encompasses
over
50
African,
Caribbean
and
Pacific
countries
(although
it
is
the
African
countries
alone
that
form
the
subject
of
this
book)
and
nine
European
states.
Lome
has
not
been
an
unqualified
success
and
the
author
draws
atten-
tion
to
many
of
the
difficulties
and
frustrations
that
have
been
experienced
especially
in
the
actual
implementation
of
the
Convention.
But
the
very
nature
of
the
EEC/Africa
relationship,
and
for
that
matter
the
whole
of
the
North/South
relationship,
is
unlikely
to
produce
a
situation
of
perfec-
tion.
What
Lome
and
its
antecedents
have
done
is
to
produce
a
workable
framework
that
has
made
some
worthwhile
practical
advances
to
the
benefit
of
both
the
European
and
African
partners.
Dr.
Cosgrove
Twitchett
points
in
her
book
to
many
of
these
advances.
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