Book Reviews : The Underdeveloped Areas Within The Common Market. Sergio Barzanti. Princeton University Press, London; Oxford University Press, 80/-
| DOI | 10.1177/004711786700300111 |
| Published date | 01 April 1967 |
| Date | 01 April 1967 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
81
first
achieved
something
approaching
real
independence
and
were
able
to
exercise
an
independent
foreign
policy&dquo;.
The
result
is
a
very readable
and
valuable
book.
The
author,
by
illuminating
the
Syrian
army’s
vital
political
influence
and
the factional
and
&dquo;localistic’’
nature
of
Syrian
political
relationships,
demonstrates
the
fallacy
of
attempting
to
interpret
the
Syrian
political
scene
{and
the
politics
of
the
Arab
world
in
general)
in
terms
of
Western-type
political
models.
His
principal
contention,
however,
&dquo;is
that
post-war
Arab
politics -
and
the
whole
problem
of
Arab
unity - cannot
properly
be
understood
without
close
reference
to
what
was
taking
place
in
Syria&dquo;.
He
shows
that
this
is
due
both
to
the
important
ideological
influence
which
the
Syrian
Ba’th
Party
ha.s
exercised
on
the
impulse
to
Arab
unity
and
to
the
fact
that,
because
of
Syria’s
geographical
position,
&dquo;whoever
would
lead
the
Arab
world
must
control
her&dquo;.
Indeed,
the
most
interesting
aspect
of
the
book
is
the
able
explanation
of
the
interaction
between,
on
the
one
hand,
Egyptian,
Saudi,
and
Hashimite
rivalry
for
influence
in
Syria,
and,
on
the
other
hand,
the
competition
of
the
Soviet
Union
and
the
West
for
the
&dquo;Cold
War&dquo;
allegiance
of
the
Arabs.
Few
Western
commentators
will
disagree
with
Mr.
Seale’s
supposition
that
Syria
was
&dquo;the
hinge
on
which
the
more
grandiose
set-pieces
of
diplomacy
attempted
by
both
the
West
and
the
Soviet
Union
turned.
It
was
to
a
very
large
extent
on
the
plane
of
internal
Syrian
politics
that
were
fought
the
decisive
battles
over
the
Baghdad
Pact,
the
Eisenhower
Doctrine,
and
Russia’s
bid
to
bring
Syria
within
the
Soviet
sphere
of
influence
in
1957&dquo;.
Malcolm
Kerr’s
book,
the
latest
of
the
Chatham
House
background
essays
on
contemporary
international
politics,
is
a
sequel
to
Patrick
Seale’s
book
in
that
it
is
concerned
primarily
with
examining
&dquo;Egyptian-
Syrian
relations
from
the
creation
of
the
United
Arab
Republic
in
February
1958
to
the
Arab
Summit
Conference
of
January
1964&dquo;.
However,
whereas
Mr.
Seale
has
undertaken
an
authoritative
work
(much
of
it
being
based
on
information
taken
directly
from
major
participants
in
Syrian
affairs),
Mr.
Kerr
has
provided
an
interpretative
essay
which
&dquo;does
not
purport
to
represent
exhaustive
research&dquo;.
Mr.
Kerr,
an
Associate
Professor
of
Political
Science
at
the
University
of
California,
ably
demonstrates
the
personal
impact
of
President
Nasser
and
the
influence
of
the
Egyptian
revolution
on
the
Syrian
political
scene
and
also
on
the
affairs
of
the
Arab
world
in
general.
Indeed,
he
contends
that
inter-
Arab
relations
should
be
now
interpreted
in
the
light
of
the
differing
circumstances
of
the
internal
evolution
of
individual
Arab
states
rather
than
from
their
various
relationships
with
the
Great
Powers.
Of
particular
interest
is
the
chapter
on
the
Cairo
negotiations
of
March-April
1963
regarding
a
Syrian-Egyptian-Iraqi
federal
union:
Mr. Kerr
illustrates
both
President
Nasser’s
personal
ascendancy
over
the
leaders
of
the
Syrian
Ba’th
Party
and
the
basic
differences
between
the
principal
participants
at
the
Cairo
negotiations
as
to
the
objectives
and
the
future
of
the
movements
for
Arab
unity.
It
is
to
be
hoped
that
Mr.
Kerr
will
find
the
time
to
extend
his
excellent
essay
into
a
definitive
work.
The
latest
collection
of
scholarly
papers
from
St.
Antony’s
College
are
concerned
with
examining
aspects
of
the
affairs
of
Egypt,
Palestine
and
Turkey
during
the
last
one
hundred
years.
There
are
five
essays:
&dquo;The
Theoretical
Structure
of
Nasser’,s
Arab
Socialism&dquo;,
by
Fayez
Sayegh;
&dquo;The
Wrong
Horse?
A
Study
of
Anglo-Turkish
Relations
before
the
First
World
War&dquo;,
by
Alan
Cunningham;
&dquo;Turks,
Arabs,
and
Jewish
Immigration
into
Palestine,
1882-1914&dquo;,
by
Neville
Mandel;
&dquo;The
Influence
of
Lord
Cromer’s
Indian
Experience
o~n
British
Policy
in
Egypt,
1883-1907&dquo;,
by
Roger
Owen;
and &dquo;Aziz
’Ali
Al-Misri
and
the
Arab
Nationalist
Movement’,’
by
Majid
Khadduri.
To
this
reviewer
the
most
interesting
and
valuable
of
the
essays
is
Neville
Mandel’s
illumination
of
the
fact
that
Arab
hostility
to
Zionist
activities
in
Palestine
did
not
begin
with
the
Balfour
Declaration
of
1917,
but
rather
originated
with
Jewish
immigration
into
Palestine
before
1914.
The
Underdeveloped
Areas
Within
The
Common
Market.
Sergio
Barzanti.
Princeton
University
Press,
London;
Oxford
University Press,
80/-.
The
need
to
promote
economic
development
in
the
backward
areas
of
industrial
economies
is
now
rarely
disputed.
The
narrowing
of
the
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