Book Reviews : The Evolving United Nations: A Prospect for Peace?. Edited by Kenneth Twitchett. Europa for the David Davies Memorial Institute of International Studies, London 1971. Cloth £2.25. Paper £1.25
| DOI | 10.1177/004711787100301210 |
| Published date | 01 December 1971 |
| Date | 01 December 1971 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
1028
to
the
needs
of
ecology
and
common
rights?
In
this
example
we
see
that
pollution
problems
involve
scientific
knowledge,
economics
and
politics
and
cannot
be
solved
without
bringing
together
authorities
from
all
these.
Pol-
lution - like
all
other
conservation
problems - can
only
be
contained
within
the
framework
of
human
ecology.
Man
is
the
polluter.
Nine
times
out
of
ten
the
environment’s
first
defence,
and
often
only
defence,
is
sentiment.
Unless
sentiment has
a
massive
public
support,
the
environment
cannot
resist
arguments
of
utility,
although
better
laws,
better
evidence
and
more
money
would
have
produced
a
clear
case
in
its
favour,
even
on
grounds
of
utility
in the
long
term.
So
far
the
sentimentalists
have
anticipated
the
hidden
costs
in
human
and
environmental
terms
far
better
than
the
experts
and
the
politicians.
Lord
Hodson
in
his
densely
packed
Opening
Address
surveyed
the
whole
field
of
pollution :
this
admirable
essay
should
be
read
on
its
own
account
in
relation
to
all
pollution
problems
and
not
merely
those
related
to
water.
(Indeed
it
is
to
be
hoped
that
the
Institute
will
organise
confer-
ences
of
this
comprehensive
kind
on
other
conservational
themes).
In
his
address
Lord
Hodson
quotes
the
cartoon
from
Punch
in
which
an
indus-
trialist
says
to
a
student
’That
may
be
effluent
to
you,
but
it’s
a
new
Bentley
and
a
heated
swimming
pool
for
me’ - and.
one
must
add,
more
jobs
for
everyone.
In
this
joke
we
see
the
human
context
of
pollution.
It
is
not
easy
to
see
how
pollution
can
be
brought
under
safe
control
until
the
principles
on
which
society
is
based
are
changed.
The
ecological
crisis
is
surely
the
precursor
of
an
ecological
revolution
for
it
cannot
be
divorced
from
radical
political
decisions.
’The
choice
to
be
made
and
the
measures
to
be
taken
are
essentially
political
and
only
at
the
advisory
level,
scientific
or
techno-
logical’,
Lord
Hodson
concludes.
So
powerful
and
habitual
are
the
presuppositions
by
which
we
all
live
that
one
wonders
if
pollution
will
ever
be
brought
under
effective
control
until
the
means
of
doing
it
are
so
greatly
reduced,
especially
by
the
dwindling
of
fossil
fuels
and
other
non-renewable
resources,
that
nature
has
safeguarded
itself.
In
the
meantime
the
environment
must
be
protected
with
as
much
enthusiasm
and
knowledge
on
an
international
scale
as
we
can
rally
to
its
aid.
For
those
who
care
this
is
an
invaluable
book
both
for
enlightenment
and
ammunition.
With
their
other
study
group
publications,
the
Institute
have
now
indeed
assembled
quite
a
formidable
arsenal.
May
it
be
used.
ROBERT
WALLER.
The
Evolving
United
Nations:
A
Prospect
for
Peace?.
Edited
by
Kenneth
Twitchett.
Europa
for
the
David
Davies
Memorial
Institute
of
International
Studies,
London
1971.
Cloth
£2.25.
Paper
£1.25.
The
United
Nations’
twenty-fifth
anniversary
was
the
occasion
of
a
great
deal
of
commemorative
literature,
but
there
can
have been
no
more
cogent
and
authoritative
contribution
to
our
knowledge
and
understanding
of
the
Organization
than
this
collection
of
essays,
edited
by
Kenneth
Twitchett.
In
his
introduction
Mr.
Twitchett
stresses
the
central
theme
which
is
developed
in
the
eight
contributions
that
follow:
that
the
United
Nations
as
we
know
it
today
is
in
many
respects
a
completely
different
entity
from
that
envisaged
by
its
founding
fathers
at
the
San
Francisco
Conference
in
1945,
largely
because
of
the
changes
that
have
taken
place
in
the
inter-
national
political
system.
The
first
essay
&dquo;Expectation
and
Experience&dquo;,
by
Geoffrey
Goodwin,
points
out
that
not
only
have
the
two
failed
to
coincide,
but
that
in
1945
the
’expectations’
reflected
very
differing
conceptions
of
the
Organization.
He
traces
the
attitudes
manifested
at
San
Francisco,
the
processes
of
frag-
mentation
and
integration
during
the
intervening
25
years,
and
the
changes
these
processes
have
brought
about
in
the
U.N’s
structure
and
activities.
He
also
considers
the
various
objectives
of
the
members
and
concludes
that
the
U.N.
has
not
shown
much
progress
in
serving
as
&dquo;an
instrument
of
collective
action
on
behalf
of
a
burgeoning
community
of
mankind&dquo;.
For
the
future
Professor
Goodwin
sees
only
the
limited
hope
that
the
nuclear
super-powers
may
be
ready
to
turn
to
the
U.N.
for
the
furtherance
of
causes
where
their
interests
correspond.
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