Book Reviews : The Integration of the European Economy Since 1815. Sidney Pollard. George Allen & Unwin, 1981. Hardback £6.25. Paperback £2.95
| Author | G. Edwards |
| Date | 01 April 1981 |
| Published date | 01 April 1981 |
| DOI | 10.1177/004711788100700118 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
1081
job.
He
puts
forward
his
arguments
succinctly
and
persuasively
with
the
support
of
numerous
statistics.
Thus
his
recommendations
appear
wholly
sensible
and
desirable,
although
doubtless
they
will
appear
less
so
to
the
Council
of
Ministers.
It
is
to
be hoped,
however,
that
the
Ten,
unlike
the
Community
of
the
Six,
will
not
present
Spain
with
a
fait
accompli
of
a
reformed
CAP.
On
the
other
hand,
despite
the
increased
concern
in
Germany
over
being
once
again
the
paymaster
of
Europe
and
perhaps
even
despite
the
appointment
of
a
French
Commissioner,
M.
Pisani,
who
has
already
proposed
a
number
of
agricultural
reforms,
the
greater
danger
may
be
that
the
Community’s
inability
to
reach
agreement
on
reforming
the
CAP
may
delay
the
entry
negotiations.
Although
he
concentrates
on
the
economics
of
enlargement.
Dr.
Tsoukalis
is
well
aware
of
the
political
arguments
involved.
His
brief
description
of
the
political
forces
at
work
in
Greece,
as
perhaps
should
be
expected,
is
excellent,
though
his
treatment
of
Spain
and
Portugal
is
somewhat
more
cursory.
If
one
wishes
to
quibble
with
his
analysis,
then
possibly
he
could
have
drawn
out
more
clearly
some
of
the
factors
that
will
determine
thepo litical
context
of
decision-making.
As
he
points
out,
the
motivation
of
all
three
countries
in
applying
for
membership
so
quickly
after
returning
to
democratic
systems
of
government
was
predommantly
political.
In
view
of
the
likely
difficulties,
political
and
economic,
in
adhering
to
the
Community
as
well
as
the
existing
problems
of
reaching
agreement
within
the
Community,
the
prospects
appear
somewhat
gloomy.
Dr.
Tsoukalis
at
least
provides
us
not
only
with
a
useful
summary
of
the
potential
problems
but
also
indicates
ways
in
which
governments
and
the
Community
could
either
avoid
or
begin
to
overcome
them.
—Geoffrey
Edwards.
The
Integration
of
the
European
Economy
Since
1815.
Sidney
Pollard.
George
Allen
&
Unwin,
1981.
Hardback
£6.25.
Paperback
£2.95.
Professor
Pollard
sets
out
to
examine
the
background
to
the
economic
integration
of
Western
Europe
since
the
Second
World
War.
He
regards
integration
especially
as
a
natural
though
not
necessarily
intended
out-
come
of
technological
progress
and
traces
the
&dquo;growing
opportunities
of
economic
integration
over
ever
wider
distances
and,
parallel
with
them,
the
growing
potential
gains
from
using
them&dquo;
since
1815.
The
French
Revolution
and
British
industrialisation
he
sees
as
the
harbinger
of
change
away
from
the
static
concept
of
mercantilism
dominant
in
the
eighteenth
century
towards
the
dynamic
economic
and
political
theories
and
practices
of
the
nineteenth.
However,
he
also
points
out
that
before
the
1940s
it
was
rare
for the
economic
urge
for
integration
to
coincide
with
the
political
impetus
for
greater
co-operation.
The
Great
Depression
of
the
1870s
may
have
seen
an
almost
paradoxical
situation
of
increasing
protectionism
and
increasing
international
co-operation
over
a
multitude
of
economic
and
social
issues
but
the
First
World
War
and
the
crash
of
1929
saw
the
ever
greater
imposition
of
national
controls
over
the
economy.
Governments,
Professor
Pollard
suggests,
acted
with
&dquo;supreme
national
egoism&dquo;
between
the
two
world
wars,
even
though
they
appeared
to
recognise
the possible
benefits
of
international
collaboration.
It
was
only
with
the
Second
World
War
that
this
schizophrenia
was
overcome
with
the
realignment
of
political
attitudes
with
the
logic
of
economic
integration.
This
is
the
fourth
in
the
series
of
books
produced
by
Alien
and
Unwin
in
co-operation
with
the
University
Association
for
Contemporary
Euro-
pean
Studies.
The
intentions
behind
the
series
were
only
in
part
to
produce
scholarly
introductory
texts
for
university
undergraduates.
This
short
book
(only
96
pages
plus
an
annotated
bibliography
and
index)
is
an
extremely
elegant
distillation
of
a
wealth
of
information
that
can
be
highly
recom-
mended
to
anyone
interested
in
the
subject.
—G.
Edwards.
European
Cooperation
Today.
Kenneth
Twitchett
(editor).
Europa,
1980.
£12.95.
This
is
a
rather
odd
and
disappointing
collection
of
essays.
The
theme
of
regionalism,
&dquo;one
of
the
dominant
dynamics
of
the
international
system
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