Book Reviews : Obstacles to Change in Latin America. Edited by Claudio Veliz. Oxford University Press for the R.I.I.A. 1965, 42/-
| Published date | 01 April 1967 |
| Date | 01 April 1967 |
| DOI | 10.1177/004711786700300112 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
82
gap
between
the
prosperous
industrial
regions
and
the
extensive
peripheral
areas
of
the
European
Economic
Community
is
the
overriding
objective
of the
regional
policy
in
the
Community.
The
problems
arising
from
underdevelopment
are
concentrated
in
Southern
Italy,
Western
France
and
areas
of
Germany
along
the
zonal
border.
The
High
Authority
of
the
European
Coal
and
Steel
Community
has
been
a
pioneer
within
the
sphere
of
its
own
responsibility,
but
regional
inequalities
in
Europe
of
the
Six
are
becoming
increasingly
evident.
The
EEC
Commission,
in
November
1965,
proposed
a
pilot
scheme
for
the
Bari
region
of
Southern
Italy,
creating
a
poly
of
development
in
the
Mezzogiorno
and
providing
a
guide
to
the
solution
of
similar
underdevelopment
problems
in
the
Community.
Sergio
Barzanti,
Assistant
Professor
of
Social
Sciences
at
Fairleigh
Dickenson
University,
Rutherford,
New
Jersey,
has
focussed
attention
on
the
underdeveloped
areas
of
Italy
and
France.
He
maintains
that
regional
inequalities
represent
obstacles,
brakes,
and
potentially
disruptive
elements
in
the
European
integration
process.
He
argues
that
social
unrest
and
political
insecurity,
so
prevalent
in
these
region,
are
conducive
to
a
revival
of
nationalism
and
so
threaten
the
continuity
and
solidarity
of
the
Community.
In
his
view
national
authorities
can
only
alleviate
the
effects
o~f
underdevelopment,
the basic
problems
requiring
a
solution
on
a
European
scale
under
the
direction
of
a
European
Government
equipped
with
supranational
powers.
The
first
chapter
traces
the
causes
of
underdevelopment
on
a
regional
basis
and
the
second
examines
the
actions
taken
by
the
relevant
national
authorities
to
redress
the
situation.
A
detailed
survey
of
French
and
Italian
regional
policies
is
followed
by
a
particularly
good
account
of
the
activities
of
the
Cassa
per
il
Mezzogiorno.
The
problem
of
planning
in
a
liberal
economy
is
briefly
mentioned,
but
the
question
remains
whether
’dirigisme’
will
be
accepted
by
all
of
the
Six.
The
problems
of
regional
underdevelopment
are
then
examined
in
relation
to
specific
areas
of
economic
activity:
agriculture,
transport,
industry,
power
and
tourism.
As
an
&dquo;unemployed
intellectual&dquo;
who
turned
to
the
tourist
industry
last
summer
for
a
living,
I
am
particularly
intrigued
by
Mr.
Barzanti’s
ingenius
suggestions
for
promoting
tourism
in
Southern
Italy
and
Western
and
Central
France.
The
final
chapter
attempts
to
illustrate
the
risks
inherent
in
integrating
developed
and
less
favoured
regions
by
reference
to
historical
examples
such
as
the
unification
of
Italy
and
American
reconstruction
at
the
end
of
the
Civil
War.
This
is
an
interesting
study,
although
the
sections
concerning
Italian
underdevelopment
give
a
clearer
picture
of
the
regional
problem
in
the
Community
than
those
relating
to
France,
perhaps
because
of
the
geographical
dispersion
of
French
underdeveloped
areas
and
the
widely
different
problems
involved.
The
author
discounts
the
risks
entailed
in
increasing
agricultural
production
in
the
Community,
yet
this
has
been
the
subject
of
widespread
concern
in
the
formulation
of
the
common
agricultural
policy.
Mr.
Barzanti’s
treatment
of
the
regional
problem
in
the
EEC
from
an
economic
viewpoint
does
not
absolve
him
from
making
sweeping
statements
regarding
the
political
development
of
the
Community.
Obstacles
to
Change
in
Latin
America.
Edited
by
Claudio
Veliz.
Oxford
University
Press
for
the
R.I.I.A.
1965,
42/-,
In
the
last
few
years
much
has
been
written
on
the
obstacles
standing
in
the
way
of
the
developing
countries
successfully
soling
their
problems
of
modernization.
Most
of
this
literature,
however,
has
been
focussed
on
the
difficulties
faced
by
the
Afro-Asians,
with
the
result that
those
confronting
the
Latin
Americans
have
tended
to
be
relegated
to
something
of
an
academic
backwater.
Moreover,
although
there
has
been
a
recent
increase
in
the
number
of
books
and
articles
published
in
English
about
contemporary
Latin
American
problems,
few
of
them
have
been
written
by
Latin
Americans.
Consequently,
this
collection
of
essays
by
distinguished
Latin
American
academics
near
to
the
sources
of
power
in
their
respective
countries,
will
be
especially
welcomed
by
those
interested
in
the
field
of
Latin
American
studies.
The
essays,
edited
by
Dr.
Claudio
Veliz
(formerly
Professor
of
Economic
History
at
the
University
of
Chile
and
now
a
Senior
Research
To continue reading
Request your trial