Review: International Politics and Organization: Functionalism: Theory and Practice in International Relations, International Bureaucracy
| DOI | 10.1177/002070207803300325 |
| Published date | 01 September 1978 |
| Author | Robert I. McLaren |
| Date | 01 September 1978 |
| Subject Matter | Review |
652
INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL
or
even
a
useful book
for
classroom
use,
its
value
is
a
great
deal
less.
With
the
exception
of the
two
best-known
pieces -
'The
Rise
and
De-
mise
of
the
Territorial
State'
and
'The
Territorial
State
Revisited'
-
the
focus
of all the
essays is
very
general
(essentially, how
to
think
about
the
changing
modern
world,
its dangers
and
dilemmas),
and,
even
though
they
have
supposedly been
edited
'to
avoid
repetition,'
the
articles
tend
to
differ
little
from
one
another.
In
one
piece
entitled
'Rele-
vancies
and
Irrelevancies
in
the
Study
of
International
Relations'
Herz
criticizes
behavioural
and
quantitative
methods
in
the
study
of
inter-
national
relations
for
being
too
concerned
with details
and
for
yielding
largely
trivial
conclusions.
In
his
view,
students
of
the
field
must
seek
to
be
'relevant'
by
dealing
with 'the
"survival"
problems
of
our
time
and
world'
(pp
273-4).
The
method
by
which
this
is
to
be
done,
if
these
essays
are
any
example,
is
to
engage
in
philosophical
expostulation
and
exhortations
concerning
the
inappropriateness
of
principles
applicable
to
previous
times.
This
is
not
to
say
that
the
essays
are
entirely
without
merit.
They
do
contain
occasional
points
of
value,
though
few
of
them
are
likely
to
be
a
surprise
to
those
familiar with
the
international
relations
field.
Readers
will probably
find,
however,
that
the
main
points
can
be
gained
by
reading
the
introduction
alone.
E.
Donald
Briggs/University
of
Windsor
FUNCTIONALISM:
THEORY
AND
PRACTICE
IN
INTERNATIONAL
RELATIONS
Edited
by
A.J.R.
Groom
and Paul
Taylor
New
York:
Crane,
Russak
&
Co,
1975, vi,
354PP,
$31.65
INTERNATIONAL
BUREAUCRACY
Thomas
George Weiss
Lexington,
Mass: D.C.
Heath,
1975,
xxiv,
187pp,
$16.oo
Functionalism
is
like
recurring
malaria;
it
is
an infectious
concept
which
flares
up
every
so
often only
to
be
drugged
into
quiescence
by
works
on
nationalism and
sovereignty.
These
books
represent
the
latest
surge of
vitality, and
the
first
solid
bout
of
the
1970s.
The
two
books
are
quite
dissimilar
in
style
and
purpose
and
thus
together
make
an
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