Book Reviews : American Foreign Policy Officials. Who They Are and What They Believe Regarding International Politics. By BERNARD MENNIS. (Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 19971. Pp. xii, 210. $11.00.)

• DOI: 10.1177/106591297202500420
• Date: 01 December 1972
• Author: Willard F. Barber
• Published date: 01 December 1972
• Subject Matter: Articles

795
There are, to be sure, disturbing political phenomena in Sweden, as the author
points out, but to call the Swedes &dquo;the new totalitarians&dquo; is to render an indignity to
the English language. Friedrich and Brzezinski, in Totalitarian Dictatorship and
Autocracy, define the six key elements of totalitarianism -
none of which charac-
terize Sweden. Equally disturbing, the author is often wrong on his facts. Exam-
ples : &dquo;Hotels and restaurants are largely State-owned.&dquo; Famed Swedish economist
Gunnar Myrdal &dquo;was then (1934) a Nazi sympathizer.&dquo;
A final criticism: The author takes particular care in describing (accurately)
Sweden’s unique historical background, which makes understandable the com-
parative intellectual conformity. Sweden’s modem institutions have been grafted
onto a medieval frame of mind, with its emphasis on the collective. The Renais-
sance tradition, with its emphasis on individualism, never took hold in Sweden.
Then, having established Sweden’s uniqueness, Huntford writes in the last para-
graph : &dquo;Pioneers in the new totalitarianism, the Swedes are a warning of what
probably lies in store for the rest of us....&dquo; What the author has failed to take into
consideration is that most Western democracies have a more firmly established tra-
dition of individualism and political pluralism than Sweden. He has failed to
acknowledge that most Western democracies would not provide as fertile a seedbed
for political conformity as Sweden. Huntford, the political prophet, has failed to
consult Huntford, the historian, who argued the case for Sweden’s uniqueness.
PETER GROTHE
California State University, San Jose
American Foreign Policy Officials. Who They Are and What They Believe Regard-
ing International Politics. By BERNARD MENNIS. (Columbus: Ohio State Uni-
versity Press, 19971. Pp. xii, 210. $11.00.)
Forty Foreign Service officers, nearly all of whom were country desk officers,
and fifty-eight Army, Navy and...