Book Reviews : A New International Commodity Regime. Ed. by Geoffrey Goodwin and James Mayall. Croom Helm, £11.50
| Author | Geoffrey Edwards |
| DOI | 10.1177/004711788100700110 |
| Published date | 01 April 1981 |
| Date | 01 April 1981 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
1076
Tulpule,
a
leading
mycologist,
has
just
been
appointed
head
of
the
National
Institute
of
Nutrition
in
Hyderabad.
The
President
of
the
Forestry
Re-
search
Institute
in
Dehra
Dun
is
drawing
up
a
series
of
reafforestation
projects
for the
hills
and
plains.
If
the
Indians
are
allowed
to
get
on
with
their
own
development
they
are
much
more
likely
to
succeed
than
if
they
are
asked
to
base
their
planning
on
books
of
this
type.
—A.
Ramsay
Tainsh.
A
New
International
Commodity
Regime.
Ed.
by
Geoffrey
Goodwin
and
James
Mayall.
Croom
Helm,
£11.50.
The
developing
countries’
demand
for
a
New
International
Economic
Order
has
spawned
a
seemingly
inexhaustible
stream
of
books
and
articles.
A
New
International
Commodity
Regime
is
one
of
the
latest
additions.
Commodities,
as
James
Mayall
points
out
in
his
introductory
essay,
have
become
a
central
feature
of
the
debate
since
the
1973/74
oil
crisis.
They
have
taken
over
from
the
earlier
concern
over
aid
and
the
concentration
on
industrialisation
and
diversification
in
the
late
1960s.
The
volume
grew
out
of
a
seminar
and
conference
held
at
the
London
School
of
Economics
between
1976
and
1978,
with
the
papers
presented
at
the
conference
revised
and
updated
to
March
1979.
Some
have
therefore
suffered
from
dating,
but
surprisingly
few.
The
aim
of
the
volume,
as
ex-
pressed
by
the
editors,
is
to
draw
together
both
the
political
and
economic
aspects
of
the
inter-governmental
debate
and
to
highlight
the
relevance
of
private
sector
activities.
The
latter
is
often
a
missing
element
in
the
debate
and
is
in
many
ways
the
most
interesting
section
of
the
book.
James
Fry,
for
example,
discusses
the
scope
for
cooperation
between
market
institu-
tions
such
as
the
London
Metal
Exchange
and
international
commodity
agreements
(ICAs)
once
they
have
been
negotiated,
including
the
possibi-
lities
of
intervention
in
the
forward
and
spot
markets.
Brian
Hindley
dis-
cusses
the
mining
industry
and
Third
World
policies,
while
Ronald
Shelp
analyses
the
important
part
played
by
risk
insurance
schemes,
concentrat-
ing
particularly
on
the
American
Overseas
Private
Investment
Corporation
and
its
revised
mandate.
They
provide
a
particularly
useful
contribution
to
the
discussion
of
the
issue
of
risk
insurance
which
has
been
such
a
signifi-
cant
factor
in
the
declining
investment
over
recent
years,
especially
in
mineral
exploration
in
developing
countries.
One
could
perhaps
have
wished
that
these
aspects
had
been
taken
up
more
thoroughly
in
the
introductory
chapters.
Nonetheless,
Geoffrey
Goodwin’s
chapter
on
the
reaction
of
OECD
members
to
the
demand
for
an
Integrated
Programme
for
Commodities
(IPC)
is
extremely
lucid
and
illuminating,
especially
in
pointing
up
the
differences
of
emphasis
among
and
between
members
of
the
European
Community
and
the
United
States.
Less
satisfying
is
James
Mayall’s
piece
on
the
pressures for
the
IPC.
He
emphasises
rightly
the
point
that
the
demands
of
the
Group
of
77
repre-
sent
the
aggregation
of
their
interests,
while
the
developed
countries
have
stressed
the
need
to
treat
each
commodity
on
its
merits
(whether
or
not
as
part
of
a
policy
of
’divide
and
conquer’).
It
would
therefore
have been
useful
if
Mr.
Mayall
had
gone
further
by
analysing
in
more
detail
the
differences
within
the
Group
of
77
and
the
way
in
which
these
have
been
dealt
with
in
the
negotiating
process,
not
only
on
the
Common
Fund
and
IPC
but
also
on
individual
commodity
agreements.
These
are
only to
some
extent
revealed
in
the
discussions
of
Bernard
Engels and
Silain
Bartoletti
on
tin
and
copper
respectively.
Confused
arguments
remain,
as
Stuart
Harris
points
out,
but
overall
this
fairly
slim
volume
makes
a
useful
contribution
in
clarifying
at
least
some
of
them.
—Geoffrey
Edwards.
Greenwich
Forum
V.
The
North
Sea:
A
New
International
Regime?
Records
of
an
International
Conference
1979.
Edited
by
Professor
Donald
Cameron
Watt.
Westbury
House.
£20.
This
is
the
first
of
the
Greenwich
Forum
Conferences
to
be
organised
on
a
European
rather
than
a
purely
British
basis.
It
consists
of
a
series
of
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