Book Reviews : The Troubled Partnership: A Re-Appraisal of the Atlantic Alliance. Henry A. Kissinger. McGraw-Hill Publishing Company, 48/-
| Date | 01 April 1967 |
| Author | W. Horsefall Carter |
| DOI | 10.1177/004711786700300107 |
| Published date | 01 April 1967 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
74
&dquo;devolution
agreen~ents&dquo;
between
a
new
State
and
the
State
formes-ivy
responsible
for
its
international
affairs,
on
national
lists
of
treaties
held
by
the
State
concerned
to
have
remained
binding
as
between
itself
and
new
States,
on
membership
of
international
organisations,
on
the
continuing
operation
of
multilateral
conventions
and
of
extradition
treaties,
and
so
forth.
Such
a
detailed
review
of
modern
international
practice
its
indeed
the
only
reliable
basis
upon
which
to
draw
juristic
conclusions,
but
at
the
same
time
it
gives
ground
for
the
Committee’s
feeling
that
&dquo;the
problem
is
too
novel
and
the
practice
insufficiently
coherent
to
permit
it
to
take
an
attitude
with
respect
to
the
law&dquo;.
There
are,
of
co~urse,
special
types
of
treaties
which
devolve
on
a
successor
State,
such
as
boundary
treaties
and
those
commonly
called
&dquo;dispositive&dquo;,
but
even
the
latter
type
cannot
easily
be
classified
as
such.
The
Committee
hopes
to
be
in
a
position
after
further
examination
of
the
evolution
of
the
practice
over
the
next
few
years
and
the
accumulation
of
further
experience,
to
formulate
its
final
views
on
the
subject.
Meanwhile,
the
Rapporteur
of
the
Commission
him-
self,
Professor
D.
P.
O’Connell
of
the
University
of
Adelaide,
is
engaged
on
an
independent
research
of
his
own
into
the
wider
issue
of
State
succession.
It
may
well
be
that
such
continuing
research
will
afford the
possibility
of
arriving
at
more
definite
conclusions
on
the
state
of
positive
inter-
national
law
at
the
present
time,
but
it
is
also
conceivable
that
the
result
can
only
be
a
statement
that
that
law
shows
a
lacuna
on
this
vital
issue
of
international
legal
relations.
In
that
case
we
can
only
hope
for
the
further
slow
ripening
of
a
customary
rule,
for the
success
of
future
attempts
at
codification,
or,
should
the
controversial
issue
be
submitted
in
some
concrete
case
to
the
International
Court
of
Justice,
for
a
judicial
pronouncement
which
cuts
the
knot.
In
the
meantime,
the
I.L.A.
handbook
can
act
as
a
valuable
and
a
dependable
guide
through
the
maze
of
State
succession
in
treaties.
J.
H.
W.
VERZIJL
The
Troubled
Partnership:
A
Re-Appraisal
of the
Atlantic
Alliance.
Henry
A.
Kissinger.
McGraw-Hill
Publishing
Company,
48/-.
If
he
is
not
indicted
for
un-American
activities
(!),
Professor
Kissinger
deserves
to
be
hailed,
in
the
United
States
and
on
this
side
of
the
Atlantic,
as
a
major
~praghet:
one
of
the
few
foreign
affairs
commentators
who
have
really
grasped
what
is
happening
in
the
world
today.
To
begin
with,
the
author
of
Nuclear
Weapons
and
Foreign
Policy
appreciates,
as
few
of
our
latter
day
strategists
do,
the
basic
paradox
of
the
nuclear
age.
It
is
certainly
the
case
that
peace
is
preserved
in
our
time
principally
by
the
balance
of
terror;
but
the
fear
of
escalation
remains,
inescapable-
&dquo;the
ability
to
destroy
is
not
related
to
the
ability
to
disarm&dquo;
-
and
the
stalemate
of
the
twos
giants
(U.S.
and
U.S.S.R.)
itself
creates
new
and
baffling
problems
for
diplomacy.
Thus,
&dquo;where
no
penalty
for
non-
compliance
exists - no
ultima
ratio
-
there
is
no
incentive
to
reach
agreement&dquo;.
Strategy
itself
is
mocked
when
the
modern
weapons
system
involves
so
many
unknown
factors
and
deterrence
remains,
as
it
does,
as
much
a
psychological
a~s
a
military
problem.
In
the
West
the
military
pre-
dominance
of the
United
States
continues,
and
must
continue;
but
at
the
same
time
&dquo;the
pressures
within
the
Atlantic
alliance
against
the
need
for
any
effective
military
policy
are
likely
to
mount&dquo;.
So
you
get
the
extreme
logic
of
certain
French
theorists,
such
as
General
Gallois,
that
nuclear
weapons
have
made
alliances
obsolete:
a
formula
which
would
indeed,
as
the
autho~r
remarks,
spells
finis
to
collective
security
and
pave
the
way
to
international
chao,s.
Professor
Kissinger
has
the
great
merit
of
understanding
the
tensions
that
are
piling
up
to
confound
the
architects
of
NATO -
&dquo;with
the
pressures
of
the
new
technology
running
counter
to
traditional
notions
of
national
sovereignty,&dquo;
but
also
the
uncovering
of
certain
imponderabilia
which
statesmen
will
ignore
at
their
peril.
Actually,
Professor
Kissinger’s
analysis
of
the
structural
problems
of
the
Alliance,
the
issue
of
nuclear
control,
etc.,
occupies
less
than
half
of
this
brilliant
tract
for
the
times:
quite
as
impressive
and
illuminating
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