Review: Stepping Stones to Nowhere
| Date | 01 June 2004 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070200405900223 |
| Author | Kenneth O'Reilly |
| Published date | 01 June 2004 |
| Subject Matter | Review |
Reviews
literature
of
the
field.
A
better
book would
communicate
the
same
ideas
in
simpler
and
more
direct
language.
In
addition,
the substance
of
the
argument
suffers
from
two
key
weaknesses.
First,
Montpetit's
explanation
of
what
makes
good
policy
is
tremendously
narrow
and
favours
abstract
theoretical models
over
common
sense.
It
is
difficult
to
believe
that
a
policy's
quality
can
turn
exclusively
on
the
number
of
actors
involved
in
formulating
it
and
that
its
effects
ought
to
have
no
bearing on
how
we
judge it.
Can
we
really
blame the
2000
Walkerton
crisis solely
on
inadequate
"actor
constella-
tions"
and
"policy
networks"?
Second,
Montpetit
treats
the world
of
public
policy like
a
sterile
laboratory.
He
is
bent
on
building
an
empir-
ically
watertight world
which
leaves
no
room
for
the actions
of
indi-
vidual
politicians
and
public
servants.
It
is
Sisyphean to
attempt
to
stuff
behaviour
as
unruly
as
political
decision-making
into
a
theoretical
straitjacket.
Despite
the
book's
flaws,
Montpetit's
premise
remains an
excellent
one.
We
need to
reconsider
our
bad
faith
in
government.
But
to
make
this
case
persuasively
requires
a
broader
and
clearer
study
which
dispenses
with
the
mania
for
isolating
variables
and
determining
causality
with
scientific
precision.
Scholars
cannot
afford to
ignore
the
ambiguities and
complexities
inherent
in
political
and
human
affairs.
M.
D.
J.
Morgan/Yale
University
STEPPING
STONES
TO NOWHERE
The
Aleutian
Islands,
Alaska,
and
American
Military
Strategy,
1867-1945
Galen
Roger Perras
Vancouver:
UBC
Press,
2003,
xiv,
274
pp,
$85.00 cloth
(ISBN
0-7748-
0989-2),
$25.95
paper
(ISBN
0-7748-0990-6)
D
eeds
and
dreams
of
empire
have
a
way
of
persisting
even
in
the
face
of
cold
facts.
And
where
could
those
facts be
colder
than
in
Alaska?
Even
as
the
overly
practical
dismissed
the
Russian
fire-sale
of
20
June
1867
that
gave
the
United
States "Seward's Icebox"
(in
honour
of
Secretary
of
State
William
H.
Seward)
for
the piddling
amount
of
$7.3 million,
those
concerned
with
the strategic
side
of
the
colonial
INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL
Spring2004
473
To continue reading
Request your trial