A Climate of Violence
| Date | 01 December 1969 |
| Author | R. J. Benewick |
| DOI | 10.1111/j.1467-9248.1969.tb00751.x |
| Published date | 01 December 1969 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
NOTES AND REVIEW ARTICLES
511
are the nuclear-propelled giants of the North. Chad, Cambodia, and Chile have very little in
common!
From the point of view of academic commentators, the desirability and validity of the political-
economy approach has been demonstrated by Professor Johnson in
Economic Nationalism
in
Oldand New Stales
and in other books of his such as
Economic Policies Towards Less-Developed
Countries
and
International Trade and Economic Growih.
Many
of
the O.D.I. publications also
illustrate the relevance of this approach, both from the point of view of the donors and the
recipients of foreign aid and preferential trading arrangements.'
One of the most interesting practical applications of this approach is that of the European
Economic Community in its relationship with the Associated African and Malagasy States.
Although
The Strategy
of
Foreign Aid
and
Iniernational Financial Aid
both refer briefly to the
European Development Fund, they make
no
attempt to analyse its operations. Similarly, the
literature reviewed here is mute regarding the use of consortia and consultative
groups
as
structural frameworks for multi-lateral cooperation in assisting the developing countries.2
Such arrangements can perhaps only mitigate the endemic poverty of many of the
haoe
nots,
but they are free at least from undue neo-colonialist manifestations, tend to be very selective,
and are scheduled in considerable detail to maximize their potential. Nevertheless, it
is
perhaps
a hopeful portent that the books surveyed here, like the aid and trading patterns with which they
are concerned, are somewhat more sophisticated than was previously the case. This in itself
will not produce help for the
have
nofs,
but it may give them cause to hope!
A CLIMATE
OF
VIOLENCE3
R.
J.
BENEWICK
Universiiy
of
Hull
SOCIAL scientists, especially in the United States, display a remarkable inventiveness for carving
out new fields for intellectual exploration. What could be more suitable for the employment of a
growing armoury
of
intellectual hardware than to predict and anticipate the problems of post-
industrial society. Fads and gadgets apart, such undertakings have a certain common sense
value. It is legitimate for political scientists to question whether political systems in their present
forms will be able to process new demands made upon them and,
if
not, what the consequences
are likely
to
be. An institutional breakdown could engender a Fascist or more properly a neo-
Fascist response. A difficulty in such exercises is that
so
called post-industrial problems seem to
have arrived although such a society has yet to be achieved. The French student rebellion of
May
1968
demonstrated only too well the vulnerability
of
a political system. An increasing
tendency
or
need for groups
to
prosecute their claims directly
upon
a
political system could
create a climate of latent violence similar to that exploited by Fascist movements between the
two world wars.
Sir Oswald Mosley and his European counterparts have been standing in the wings waiting
for the call. That they have failed to emerge can be credited to a number of factors. Professor
Hugh Trevor-Roper has noted that economic collapse and proletarian upheaval are unlikely
and that there is no European industrial power acting as a unifying force. Christopher Seton-
Watson has ascribed the lack of success
of
the neo-Fascists
to
the general prosperity, the Ameri-
can presence as a counterfoil to Communist takeovers and stable and effective government.
1
See
for example,
German Aid
by John White
(1965);
French Aid
by Teresa Hayter
(1966);
and
Aid in Uganda-Agriculture
by Hal Mettrick
(1967).
2
The consortia mechanism was originally conceived in
1958
as a means for assisting India.
For an able account of the concept see
Pledged to Decelopment
by John White
(O.D.I.,
1967).
3
EUROPEAN FASCISM.
Edited
by
s.
J.
WOOLF
(
Weidenfeld
&
Nicolson.
Pp.
386.
63s.)
MY LIFE.
By
SIR
OSWALD
MOSELEY.
(Nelson.
Pp.
521.
70s.)
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