Book Reviews : The Soviet Union and Northern Waters edited by Clive Archer. London: Routledge, for the Royal Institute of International Affairs, 1988. 251pp. £35.00
| Author | James Cable |
| DOI | 10.1177/004711788900900513 |
| Published date | 01 May 1989 |
| Date | 01 May 1989 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
460
and
international
politics.
Individual
chapters
will
stand
on
their
own
as
useful
readings
for
more
specialised
courses.
In
addition,
the
Maclean
and
Tooze
chapters
make
useful
contributions
to
the
further
development
of
a
critical
theory
of
international
relations.
These
are
not
inconsiderable
merits
for
any
book,
and
ones
which
should
propel
the
publishers
towards
an
affordable
paperback
edition
for
students.
Richmond
College
MARK
HOFFMAN
The
Soviet
Union
and
Northern Waters
edited
by
Clive
Archer.
London:
Routledge,
for
the
Royal
Institute
of International
Affairs,
1988.
251pp.
£35.00.
The
articles
which
ten
authors
have
contributed
to
this
book
had
their
origin
in
an
International
Colloquium
organised
by
the
Centre
for
Defence
Studies
at
the
Univer-
sity
of
Aberdeen
in
1985.
They
cover
a
broad
spectrum
of
subjects -
resources,
jurisdic-
tional
disputes,
fisheries,
strategies
and
force
levels -
but
a
curiously
circumscribed
slice
of
sea.
Jane
Austen’s
heroine
had
no
difficulty
in
rejecting
’the
whole
city
of
Bath,
as
unworthy
to
make
part
of
a
landscape’,
but
this
book’s
readers
may
still
be
surprised
to
learn
that
northern
waters
do
not
include
the
North
Sea
and
embrace
the
Gulf
of
Bothnia
only
to
consign
to
a
sunnier
zone
the
rest
of
the
icy
Baltic.
Indeed,
one
of
the
contributors -
Douglas
Norton -
is
understandably
driven
to
protest
that
’a
naval
view’
must
extend
far
wider,
that
there
are
no
boundaries
in
the
sea.
On
the
other
hand,
the
editor
advances
a
plausible
defence
of
the
book’s
apparent
lapse
from
its
title
by
’the
heavy
emphasis
on
the
reaction
of
the
West
to
the
Soviet
presence.’
The
book
caters
for
its
likely
readership
by
accepting
their
perspectives
and
by
concentrating
on
those
topics
where
the
ready
availibility
of
evidence
facilitates
informed
discussion.
One
still
wishes
room
could
have
been
found
for just
one
contribu-
tor -
and
such
scholars
do
exist -
able
to
explain
the
Soviet
point
of
view.
It
is
also
unfortunate
that
the
book’s
main
presentation
of
Soviet
strategy -
a
very
impressive
article
by
Tomas
Ries
lavishly
illustrated
by
diagrams -
should
be
entirely
devoid
of
political
context.
The
Russians,
after
all,
are
generally
supposed
to
accept
the
Clausewitzian
view
of
war
as
’eine
Fortsetzung
des
politischen
Verkehrs’ -
a
continuation
of
political
interchange.
Ries
is
as
lucid
as
he
is
ingenious
in his
explanation
of
how
Russian
forces
might
be
used
in
northern
waters,
but
he
does
not
suggest
what
might
set
them
in
motion
nor
what
they
would
hope
to
achieve.
These
omissions
do
not
detract
from
the
skill
of
his
analysis,
but
they
do
a
little
impair
the
persuasiveness
of
arguments
unsupported
by
reference
to
any
Russian
source.
Soviet
strategy
is
so
central
to
the
subject
of
this
book
that
it
might
with
advantage
have been
approached
from
more
than
one
angle.
Finn
Sollie
only
skims
the
topic
in
his
article
on
’The
Soviet
Union
in
Northern
Waters’,
which
is
more
concerned
with
resources
and
legal
issues.
These
are
also
tackled
by
Robin
Churchill,
Uwe Jenisch
and
David
Scrivener,
so
that
the
reader
is
offered
four
contrasting,
if
sometimes
overlapping
pictures.
The jurisdictional
and
allied
problems
arising
from
the
Spitsbergen
Treaty
are
explored
in
particular
depth.
Perhaps
oil,
fish
and
boundaries
are
as
important
as
military
strategy,
but
they
are
not
four
times
as
complicated
or
controversial.
Indeed,
when
it
comes
to
the
Maritime
Strategy
of
the
United
States,
we
do
get
three
interestingly
contrasted
views.
Douglas
Norton
represents
orthodoxy
with
his
article
’An
American
Naval
View’.
Steven
Miller,
in
’The
Maritime
Strategy
and
Geopolitics
in
the
High
North’,
contributes
a
balanced,
scholarly
and
most
interesting
survey
of
various
opinions,
but
unfortunately
omits
those
(which
can
be
found
in
published
American
literature)
of
the
Russians.
And
Geoffrey
Till
is
well
worth
reading
on
’Implications
for
the
Navies
of
Europe’,
though
a
slip
of
the
pen
has
betrayed
him
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