University of UtahWestern Political Science Association

History: A Guide to Peace by Erno WittmannReview by: Ross N. BerkesThe Western Political Quarterly, Vol. 2, No. 2 (Jun., 1949), pp. 287-288Published by: University of Utah on behalf of the Western Political Science AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/442018 .

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BOOK REVIEWS AND NOTICES BOOK REVIEWS AND NOTICES

analysis of the esprit des lois in terms of contemporary culture." The result is a discussion of some five types of political control ranging be- tween the limits set by custom and convention at one extreme to con- flict and coercion at the other. Included in the 'spectrum' are domination (comparable to red), command, leadership, administration and, finally, representation (which is equivalent to violent). Also added, in the classical manner, are two forms of perversion of the five controls: corruption, or the maladjustment of the control mechanism to the social order, and usurpation, the manipulation of controls for private purposes or under false pretenses.

On the whole, it may be said that Mr. Hollister has accomplished his purpose-if that purpose is conceived to be a rather rigorous verbal analysis of certain elements in the concepts of control and obedience which are usually concealed by the vagueness of the terms ordinarily employed. His point that concepts of control can be clarified by reference to the type of obedience evoked would seem also to be well taken. Although he sometimes seems to have sacrificed easy understanding to economy of writing, his discussion is clear and his organization reasonable.

At the conclusion of such a study, however, one wonders whether the return has been quite commensurate with the effort. So much thought is expended on the problem of differentiation that the fundamental questions involved in choosing the correct type of control for a given situation still depends on the analysis of the situation-and so far as this study is concerned, that judgment is no more objective than it was before. Granted that this is not Mr. Hollister's problem, one won- ders whether his contribution would not have been more useful had he attempted it. One suspects that Mr. Truman or General MacArthur are not so worried about what they are called as they are about what devices or actions are possible in the circumstances. Studies of this type raise rather serious questions about where the real responsibility of the political scientist lies.

Yale University. FRED V. CAHILL, JR. Yale Unilversity.

History: A Guide to Peace. BY ERNO WITTMANN. (New York: Columbia University Press. 1948. Pp. vi, 377. $5.50.)

This is both a courageous and challenging book. Mr. Wittmann has felt urged to take an experimental journey along the high road of inter- national relations. His goal is to make a science out of international politics. With the empirical evidence of history, he attempts to test a series of theoretical assumptions. The sweeping nature of the assign- ment is enough to frighten most of the academic profession, particularly those who reject a behavioral approach to social and political phenomena.

analysis of the esprit des lois in terms of contemporary culture." The result is a discussion of some five types of political control ranging be- tween the limits set by custom and convention at one extreme to con- flict and coercion at the other. Included in the 'spectrum' are domination (comparable to red), command, leadership, administration and, finally, representation (which is equivalent to violent). Also added, in the classical manner, are two forms of perversion of the five controls: corruption, or the maladjustment of the control mechanism to the social order, and usurpation, the manipulation of controls for private purposes or under false pretenses.

On the whole, it may be said that Mr. Hollister has accomplished his purpose-if that purpose is conceived to be a rather rigorous verbal analysis of certain elements in the concepts of control and obedience which are usually concealed by the vagueness of the terms ordinarily employed. His point that concepts of control can be clarified by reference to the type of obedience evoked would seem also to be well taken. Although he sometimes seems to have sacrificed easy understanding to economy of writing, his discussion is clear and his organization reasonable.

At the conclusion of such a study, however, one wonders whether the return has been quite commensurate with the effort. So much thought is expended on the problem of differentiation that the fundamental questions involved in choosing the correct type of control for a given situation still depends on the analysis of the situation-and so far as this study is concerned, that judgment is no more objective than it was before. Granted that this is not Mr. Hollister's problem, one won- ders whether his contribution would not have been more useful had he attempted it. One suspects that Mr. Truman or General MacArthur are not so worried about what they are called as they are about what devices or actions are possible in the circumstances. Studies of this type raise rather serious questions about where the real responsibility of the political scientist lies.

Yale University. FRED V. CAHILL, JR. Yale Unilversity.

History: A Guide to Peace. BY ERNO WITTMANN. (New York: Columbia University Press. 1948. Pp. vi, 377. $5.50.)

This is both a courageous and challenging book. Mr. Wittmann has felt urged to take an experimental journey along the high road of inter- national relations. His goal is to make a science out of international politics. With the empirical evidence of history, he attempts to test a series of theoretical assumptions. The sweeping nature of the assign- ment is enough to frighten most of the academic profession, particularly those who reject a behavioral approach to social and political phenomena.

287 287

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THE WESTERN POLITICAL QUARTERLY THE WESTERN POLITICAL QUARTERLY

Wittmann's premise is that social communities are organisms, and on the assumption that nations, as social communities have typical behavior patterns, he isolates what he regards as the properties of the group. From these premises, the author builds the thesis that a world social com- munity is not being created, despite outward manifestations evidenced by the League of Nations and the United Nations. On the contrary, the trend is in the direction of greater integration of separate members and thus the disintegration of the community of all states.

The author, after proving to his own satisfaction that the creation of a cosmopolitan community is at present impossible, presents us with the only alternative formula for the preservation of peace-the creation of a new type of balance of power. He assumes that in a bi-polar world, a balance modeled along the old pattern is impossible, and thus pleads for the creation of a Third Power as strong and independent as either the USSR or the United States. After listing the necessary quali- fications, Mr. Wittmann selects Britain and the Commonwealth for the role. He concludes pessimistically, however, in stating that in all probability the world will not see the need for a third force in time, and that the inevitability of its creation may not prevent yet another deluge.

The mechanistic approach assumed by the author deals rather harshly with the vanity and ego of man. Yet the author, in his attempt to exploit history, rather refreshingly delves below the superficial record in reading a pattern of behavior. While the reviewer is not even sure that the author's premises, once granted, would lead to the particular conclusions offered, nonetheless the book must be marked as a stimu- lating, honest effort of siginficant contribution on the road toward a science of international relations.

Ross N. BERKES. University of Southern California. Ross N. BERKES.

State Intervention in Great Britain. BY SAMUEL J. HURWITZ. (New York: Columbia University Press. 1949. Pp.x, 321. $4.00.)

The cynic who remarked that wars are won by patriotism plus eight per cent might well have offered this volume in evidence. Subtitled A Study of Economic Control and Social Response, 1914-1919, it is con- cerned with "the impact of the First World War on the role of govern- ment in the economy of a country which was the prototype of modern industrial society."

The author begins with a survey of the political and economic horizon during the decade before 1914, touching on problems of British trade and labor, the House of Lords, Ireland, foreign policy and woman suffrage-though here he waxes rather unexplainably and unnecessarily facetious-to set the background for the war years.

Wittmann's premise is that social communities are organisms, and on the assumption that nations, as social communities have typical behavior patterns, he isolates what he regards as the properties of the group. From these premises, the author builds the thesis that a world social com- munity is not being created, despite outward manifestations evidenced by the League of Nations and the United Nations. On the contrary, the trend is in the direction of greater integration of separate members and thus the disintegration of the community of all states.

The author, after proving to his own satisfaction that the creation of a cosmopolitan community is at present impossible, presents us with the only alternative formula for the preservation of peace-the creation of a new type of balance of power. He assumes that in a bi-polar world, a balance modeled along the old pattern is impossible, and thus pleads for the creation of a Third Power as strong and independent as either the USSR or the United States. After listing the necessary quali- fications, Mr. Wittmann selects Britain and the Commonwealth for the role. He concludes pessimistically, however, in stating that in all probability the world will not see the need for a third force in time, and that the inevitability of its creation may not prevent yet another deluge.

The mechanistic approach assumed by the author deals rather harshly with the vanity and ego of man. Yet the author, in his attempt to exploit history, rather refreshingly delves below the superficial record in reading a pattern of behavior. While the reviewer is not even sure that the author's premises, once granted, would lead to the particular conclusions offered, nonetheless the book must be marked as a stimu- lating, honest effort of siginficant contribution on the road toward a science of international relations.

Ross N. BERKES. University of Southern California. Ross N. BERKES.

State Intervention in Great Britain. BY SAMUEL J. HURWITZ. (New York: Columbia University Press. 1949. Pp.x, 321. $4.00.)

The cynic who remarked that wars are won by patriotism plus eight per cent might well have offered this volume in evidence. Subtitled A Study of Economic Control and Social Response, 1914-1919, it is con- cerned with "the impact of the First World War on the role of govern- ment in the economy of a country which was the prototype of modern industrial society."

The author begins with a survey of the political and economic horizon during the decade before 1914, touching on problems of British trade and labor, the House of Lords, Ireland, foreign policy and woman suffrage-though here he waxes rather unexplainably and unnecessarily facetious-to set the background for the war years.

288 288

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