Sovereign Statehood, The Basis of International Society, Alan James, Allen & Unwin, 1986, £22.50 hardback, £8.95 paper
| DOI | 10.1177/004711788700900111 |
| Published date | 01 April 1987 |
| Date | 01 April 1987 |
| Author | Frank Berman |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
89
on.
These
issues
are
for
the
most
part
set
against
the
background
of
an
increasingly
integrated
world
economy
but
one
in
which
the
rules,
as
under
the
GATT
for
example,
are
weak
and/or
vague,
or,
as
in
the
monetary
system,
are
only
partial
or
non-existent.
The
emphasis,
however,
is
on
the
bilateral
relationship
between
Europe
and
the
United
States,
in
large
part
because
of
the
significance
of
the
inter-
connection
between
these
economic
issues
and
the
security
and
defence
interests
of
the
North
Atlantic.
So
far,
most
governments
have
been
determined
to
maintain
the
separateness
of
economic
and
defence
issues;
their
legislatures,
particularly
Congress,
have
been
less
reluctant
to
draw
obvious
conclusions.
Academics,
too.
have
tended
to
remain
segregated
by
their
disciplines,
although
with
some
notable
exceptions,
not
least
Susan
Strange
who
contributes
the
final
paper
here.
The
collection
is
divided
into
eight
chapters.
After an
excellent
introduction
by
Tsoukalis
which
succinctly
outlines
the
major
problem
areas,
the
chapters
cover:
the
steel
trade
(Robert
Crandall);
agricultural
policies
(Tim
Josling);
GATT
and
its
reform
(Jacques
Pelkmans);
extraterritoriality
(Paul
Demaret);
flexible
exchange
rates
and
national
monetary
policies
(Niels
Thygesen);
and
US
international
monetary
policy
(Ronald
I.
McKinnon).
The
final
paper
is
on
politics,
trade
and
money.
In
this,
Susan
Strange
is
primarily
concerned
with
failure:
the
failure
on
the
part
of
the
United
States
to
fulfil
adequately
its
responsibilities
as
the
world’s
banker;
and
the
failure
on
the
part
of
Europe
not
to
reduce
its
political
and
security
dependence
on
the
US
so
that
it
could
achieve
greater
autonomy
in
monetary
matters.
Perhaps
she
is
not
quite
so
strong
on
how
either
could
now
put
the
situation
to
rights,
but
it
is
a
fitting
conclusion
to
the
volume
in
so
far
as
one
of
its
aims
according
to
the
editorwas
to
assess
the
conditions
on
which
improvement
of
relations
between
Europe
and
the
United
States
might
rest.
Interesting
and
provocative
though
the
collection
is,
it
is
also
somewhat
difficult
to
review.
The
problem
lies
less
in
the
scope
of the
papers-given
adequate
space
that
might
be
possible-than
in
the
form
of
the
collection.
Each
paper
is
followed
by
three
commentaries
or,
in
the
case
of Pelkmans,
four-Miriam
Camps,
Wolfgang
Hager,
John
Pinder
and
Frank
Wolter.
It is
a
most
impressive
list.
Each
commentator
represents
a
different
perspective,
whether
European
(that
is
from
a
member
state
of
the
Community),
American
or
institutional
(the
Community
or
the
GATT).
The
weaknesses
and
shortcomings
and
the
strengths
of
the
main
papers
are
therefore
already
very
extensively
discussed.
The
result
is
highly
commendable.
It
is
also
not
surprising
that
the
Bruges
colloquia
have
proved
so
durable
and
continue
to
attract
participants
of
such
calibre.
University
of
Southern
California/
University
of
Essex
—Geoffrey
Edwards
Sovereign
Statehood,
The
Basis
of
International
Society,
Alan
James,
Allen
& Unwin,
1986,
£22.50
hardback,
£8.95
paper.
This
is
a
curiously
disappointing
book.
It
is
the
second
in
a
series
entitled
&dquo;Key
Concepts
in
International
Relations&dquo;,
which
is
designed,
in
the
words
of
the
General
Editor
(Prof.
Paul
Wilkinson
of
Aberdeen),
to
develop
systematically
the
main
organising
concepts
of
international
relations
study
for
the
benefit
of
both
students
and
practitioners.
Its
theme
is
sovereignty,
in
the
particular
sense
of what
makes
a
territorial
entity
eligible
for
membership
in
international
society.
The
editor
stresses
that
a
major
weakness
of
existing
studies
is
their
failure
adequately
to
&dquo;relate
the
key
concepts
of
international
relations
to
the
real
world
thinking
and
activities
of...
key
participants
in
the
international
system ...
Yet
the
plain
fact
is
that
many
of
our
newer concepts ...
have
been
originated,
modified,
developed
and
debated
mainly
among
politicians,
diplomatists,
civil
servants,
service
chiefs,
guerilla
leaders,
and
even&dquo;
(sic!)
&dquo;journalists&dquo;.
One’s
appetite
is
thus
whetted
for
a
crisp
original
analysis,
in
which
the
practical
activities
of
inter-State
etc.
relations
are
placed
in
theoretical
context
and
the
conceptualising
power
of
academic
analysis
is
refined
by
the
facts
of
international
life.
It
should
not
be
said
that
this
prospectus
is
totally
unfulfilled.
For
example,
Professor
James
is
notably
successful
in
avoiding
the
entanglements
of
Absolute
Sovereignty
notions
and
the
compulsive
(but
in
this
context
irrelevant)
disputations
about
the
location
of ultimate
and
therefore
untrammelled
power
in
the
individual
State.
Starting
from
the
readily
observable
fact
that
’sovereignty’
in
political
exchanges
tends
to
be
invoked
in
connection
with
a
challenge
or
threat
of
some
kind
to
the
supremacy
of
a
State
over
some
aspect
of
its
life.
he
arrives
correctly
at
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