The Choice before Asia
| Author | Elizabeth Monroe |
| Published date | 01 June 1955 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070205501000202 |
| Date | 01 June 1955 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
THE
CHOICE
BEFORE
ASIA
Elizabeth
Monroe*
T
is
difficult
to
remember
that,
ten
years
ago,
there
was
no
such
phrase
as
"the
Iron
Curtain."
Our
language
has
become
so
well
stocked
with
the
phraseology
of
the
cold
war
that
we
tend
to
think
of
the
world in
two
halves-one
"free,"
and
the
other
in
bond
to
Russia-and
to
forget
that
there
is
a
no-man's-land
between
them.
Large
parts
of
Asia and
Africa
do
not
feel
involved
in
the
east-west
controversy,
and
want
to
be
neutral
till
they
see
more
of
what the
two
rival
systems
have to
offer
by
way
of
example,
or
even
of
bait.
It
is
not
an
accident
that
all
these
neutral
areas are
under-
developed.
They
belong
to
the
part
of
the
world
that
either
through
climate,
disease
and
lethargy,
or
through
the
com-
placency
of
its
educated
class,
has
dropped
far
behind in
the
modern
race
for
wealth
and
power.
Countries
as
diverse
as
Nigeria,
Ethiopia,
Egypt
and
India
are
now
all
aware
of
their
backwardness
because
better
communications,
and
willy
nilly
involvement
in
world
wars,
have made
them
so.
They
not
only
know of
it,
but
are
eager
to
put
it
right.
Their
aloofness
to
the
cold
war
stems,
on
the
whole,
from
the fact
that
its
existence
confronts
them
with
a
choice
for
which
they
do
not
feel
ready.
They
do
not
want
to
be
jostled
before
their
time
into
choosing
between
two
methods
of
catching
up-a
western
one
and a
Soviet
one-for
they
are
unsure
which
would
suit
them
best. They
are
shy
of
the
western
one
because
it
reminds
them
of
colonialism;
not quite
unfoundedly,
they
suspect
western
approaches
of
disguising
some
western
design
that
will
bring
them
nuisance
as
well
as
good.
(Iraqi
gossip
has
it,
for
instance,
that
the
great
new
catchment
lakes
now
built
or
building
by
western
con-
tractors
on
the
Euphrates
and
Tigris,
and
the
purpose
of
which
is to
preserve
southern
Iraq
from
yearly
flood,
are
in
fact
intended
for
seaplanes-"the
larger
lake
for
American seaplanes,
the
smaller
for
British ones"--and
so
will
lead
to
the
bombing
rather
than
the
benefit of
Iraq).
Under-developed
nations
are
therefore
plunged
into
doubt
as
to
whether
to
keep
in
touch
*Member of
the
editorial
staff,
The
Economist,
London;
author
of
The
Mediterranean
in
World
Politics.
This
article
is
based
upon
the
Dafoe
Foundation lecture
delivered
by
Miss
Monroe
on
October
26,
1954.
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