Book Reviews : Power Politics, Martin Wight. Edited by Hedley Bull and Carsten Hol braad, Leicester University Press and RIIA, 1978, £7.50
| Published date | 01 October 1978 |
| Author | Geoffrey Edwards |
| DOI | 10.1177/004711787800600212 |
| Date | 01 October 1978 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
She
rightly
underlines
that the
&dquo;Rome
Treaty
did
provide
a
framework
for
multilateralising
commercial
exchanges&dquo;:
the
fostering
of
&dquo;commercial
decolonisation&dquo;
as
she
vividly
describes
it
when
she
discusses
Yaounde
(page
65).
But
it
has
not
been
just
commerce:
eighteen
African
associates
had
become
&dquo;accustomed
to
working
together ...&dquo;
and
this
&dquo;spilt
over
into
other
areas
of
inlernational
economic
relations .
(page
121).
In
1973
Commonwealth
Africa
joined-&dquo;the
Commonwealth
ACP
countries
exerted
a
much
stronger
influence
on
the
Lome
Convention
as
a
whole
than
did
the
United
Kingdom&dquo;
(page
169)-thus
increasing
the
opportunities
of
regular
meetings
between
Francophone
and
Anglophone
Africa.
As
for
the
nine
European
countries,
it
is
fascinating
to
read
Dr.
Cosgrove
Twitchett’s
account
of
the
reluctance of
5
of
the
original
EEC
countries
to
go
along
with
the
French
initiative
when
the
Treaty
of
Rome
was
signed
in
1957;
and
the
criticism
of
Lome
from
some
in
the
U.K.
following
British
membership
of
the
EEC
some
15
years
later.
But
she
rightly
points
out
that
&dquo;of
the
Nine,
probably
the
United
Kingdom
has
most
to
gain
from
the
Lome
partnership.
In
effect
it
could
help
to
’Euro-
peanise’
her
stake
in
Africa,
including
southern
Africa.
Britain
has
more
to
lose
from
a
holocaust
there
than
any
other
EEC
state.
Seen
in
conjunc-
tion
with
the
Nine’s
moves
towards
political
co-operation,
the
EEC-ACP
agreement
greatly
strengthens
her
hand
in
dealing
with
the
white
minority
governments&dquo;
(page
169).
The
book
is
a
mine
of
information
and
much
use
has
been
made
of
both
officials
and
unofficial
sources.
There
are
many
aspects
still
to
be
more
fully
explored:
the
work
of
the
institutions,
not
just
the
EDF
but
also
the
Commission
itself,
the
Delegates
and
the
Industrial
Centre.
The
author
touches
on
all
these
but
she
whets
our
appetite
for
more.
Perhaps
she
could
look
to
this
in
a
further
volume.
z
Tom
Soper.
Power
Politics,
Martin
Wight.
Edited
by
Hedley
Bull
and
Carsten
Hol-
braad,
Leicester
University
Press
and
RIIA,
1978,
£7.50.
This
is
in
many
ways
an
odd
book.
It
is
a
collection
of
papers
and
drafts
written
by
Martin
Wight
over
the
last
twenty
years
before
he
died
in
1972
for
a
revision
of
his
paper
Power
Politics
written
in
1946.
The
whole
is
drawn
together
by
Hedley
Bull
and
Carsten
Holbraad
and,
despite
their
efforts,
remains
a
collection
of
fragments,
sometimes
intriguing,
occasionally
repetitive,
and
often
stimulating.
They
have
a
decidedly
old
world
flavour
about
them,
both
in
style
and
content.
They
sometimes
sparkle
with
nuggets
such
as
&dquo;Honour
is
the
halo
round
interests;
prestige
is
the
halo
round
power&dquo;.
They
are
essentially
Euro-centric
in
outlook,
and
remain
firmly
preoccupied
with
the
political
relationships
of
states
in
the
international
system.
The
style
is
anecdotal
with
a
vast
range
of
historical
examples
illustrating
the
underlying
themes
of
international
society.
The
emphasis
is
very
much
on
continuity
rather
than
change.
But
the
old
fashioned
tone
of
the
collection
is
also
emphasised
by
the
omission
of
all
references
to
the
more
theoretical
literature
of
the
post-
war
period.
In
some
ways
Wight
almost
appears
to
take
a
perverse
plea-
sure
in
ignoring
it.
The
title
suggests
a
kinship,
at
least,
with
the
’realist’
school
of
E.
H.
Carr
or
Hans
Morgenthau
which
is
not
wholly
borne
out.
The
book
ends,
for
example,
with
the
sentence:
&dquo;Realism
can
be
a
very
good
thing;
it
all
depends
whether
it
means
the
abandonment
of
high
ideals
or
of
foolish
expectations&dquo;.
Much
earlier
he
comments
that
the
view
that
politics
is
a
struggle
for
power,
while
pointing
to
a
central
truth
gets
things
out
of
focus.
It
underestimates
elements
of
the
system
such
as
common
interests,
however
minimal.
But
it
is
nonetheless
an
apt
title.
The
word
’power’
is
not
often
omitted
from
a
sentence.
Wight
uses
it
to
mean
a
multitude
of
things,
not
least
a
country
(a
dominant
power,
world
power,
minor
power
etc.),
its
resources
such
as
sea
or
land
power,
and
the
general
currency
of
the
international
system
within
alliances,
the
balance
of
power,
the
League
of
Nations,
the
UN
etc.
Even
though
the
collection
remains
one
of
draft
chapters
rather
than
a
finished
historical
introduction
to
international
politics,
it
reveals
none-
theless
a
man
of
wide
and
stimulating
scholarship.
Geoffrey
Edwards.
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