Review: International: The Survival of Small States
| Author | Annette Baker Fox |
| Published date | 01 March 1973 |
| Date | 01 March 1973 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/002070207302800115 |
| Subject Matter | Review |
166
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL
centrating
on
technical matters,
others on
background
and
past
de-
velopment,
others on
the
need for
expanded
communications
systems,
still
others
on
the content
control
of
internationally
broadcast
pro-
gramming.
The
quality
of
the
essays
varies.
As
there
is
no
index and
the
essay
titles
are
often
only
minimally informative,
the
reader
is
left
on
his
own
to
find
what might
be of
interest
to
him.
Nevertheless
the
book
does
contain
a
few
excellent
pieces:
for
ex-
ample, Abram
Chayes'
clearly
stated
critique
of
the
unilateral
approach
of
the
United
States
to
satellite
communications,
and Jean
d'Arcy's
lively
examination
of
the
'new conflict
between
freedom of
information
and
national
sovereignty' posed
by
the communications
revolution.
T.
Joseph
Devine/
Maine
THE
SURVIVAL
OF
SMALL
STATES
Studies
in
Small
Power/Great
Power
Conflict
David
Vital
London:
Toronto:
Oxford
University
Press,
1971,
viii,
136pp,
$7.25
In
this
second
work on the
inequality
of
states,
David
Vital
wisely
focuses
on
specific
cases.
These
exemplify
the
'tertiary'
state,
one
whose
political
subjugation
by
a
primary
power
would
not
in
itself
decisively
add
to
the
latter's
resources
but
which
is
contingently
valuable
in the
short
term.
Though
not
a
novel
definition,
it
is
useful
in
underlining
the
importance
of
the
external
circumstances
in
particular
great
power-
small power
confrontations.
Vital
chooses
then
to
concentrate
on
'strate-
gically
isolated
states,'
neither
'pawn'
nor
'true
client
state,'
whose
capabilities
can
thus
vary
rapidly
and
visibly
(p
9).
His
classic
paradigm
is
Czechoslovakia
in
1938;
he
then
proceeds to
the contemporary
paradigm,
Israel;
and
a
paradigm
for
the
future
is
Finland.
In
the
first
case
the
author
provides
persuasive
if
tragic
evi-
dence
that
this
well-armed
power
might
have
been able
successfully
to
stand
up
to
the
threatening
great
power if
only its leaders
and
friends
had
had
the
nerve
to
match,
but
concludes
that
this example
of
intrinsic
military
capacity
can
no
longer
be
followed.
The
Israeli
case
is
elaborated in
terms
of
a
somewhat
mechanistic
two-tier
power
conflict,
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