Book Reviews and Notices : Western Union, a Study of the Trend toward European Unity. BY ANDREW AND FRANCES BOYD. (Washington, D. C.: Public Affairs Press. 1949. Pp. viii, 183. $3.00.)

• Published date: 01 December 1949
• Date: 01 December 1949
• DOI: 10.1177/106591294900200410
• Subject Matter: Articles

628

equally

acceptable

to

both

sides

in

the

present

East-West

conflict

can

be

nothing

more

than

a

lowest

common

denominator,

or a

mass

of

pious

platitudes.

It

is

submitted,

however,

that

in

his

final

suggestions

for

ac-

tion

on

this

subject

he

has

himself

fallen

victim

to

unwarranted

idealism.

He

assumes

too

lightly

that

the

world

is

sufficiently

organized

for

States,

on

whom

the

burden

of

drafting

and

accepting

any

international

docu-

ments

will

fall,

to

recognize

their

nationals

as

&dquo;citizens

of

the

organized

world,&dquo;

capable

of

enjoying

rights

in

their

capacity

as

such.

University

College,

London.

L.

C.

GREEN.

Western

Union, a

Study

of

the

Trend

toward

European

Unity.

BY

AN-

DREW

AND

FRANCES

BOYD.

(Washington,

D.

C.:

Public

Affairs

Press.

1949.

Pp.

viii,

183.

$3.00.)

This

brief

volume,

completed

in

the

middle

of

1948,

was

written

un-

der

the

auspices

of

the

United

Nations

Association

of

Great

Britain.

Half

of

it

consists

of

text,

and

the

remainder,

of

an

eleven

part

appendix,

in-

cluding

a

brief

bibliography.

The

text

consists

of

four

chapters,

of

unequal

interest

to

most

readers.

Chapter

I,

&dquo;The

Face

of

Europe,&dquo;

presents

the

current

economic

and

political

picture.

Those

parts

dealing

with

Germany

and

the

colonies

in

relationship

to

European

unity

are

most

closely

related

to

the

general

topic

of

the

book.

The

second

chapter,

&dquo;The

Past,&dquo;

describes

the

numerous

pro-

posals

for

European

and

World

organization

made

between

1400

and

World

War

II.

The

third

chapter,

&dquo;The

Present,&dquo;

is

devoted

to

functional

cooperation

-

the

Marshall

Plan,

the

Brussels

Pact,

and

various

activi-

ties

of

the

United

Nations.

Generally

speaking,

there

is

very

little

in

the

first

three

chapters

which

will

not

be

familiar

to

the

readers

of

this

re,

view.

Chapter

IV,

&dquo;The

Future,&dquo;

describes

the

several

movements,

begin-

ning

with

that

of

Federal

Union

in

1938,

working

toward

European

uni-

fication.

The

history

and

chief

proposals

of

each

of

these

movements

are

described

and

their

similarities

and

differences

noted.

The

countries

to

be

included,

the

socio-economic

basis

of

the

union,

and

the

degree

of

unity

constitute

the

main

points

of

difference,

at

least

for

the

short

run.

It

is

made

clear

that

the

present

Labor

government

of

Great

Britain

has

been

reluctant

to

entertain

any

scheme

which

might

impair

Britain’s

independence.

Over

the

long

run,

the

authors

point

out,

all

of

the

move.

ments

are

agreed

that

Europe

is

not

the

final

goal;

world

Federal

Gov,

ernment

is

the

ultimate

aim.

Whether

this

is

true

of

the

United

Nations

Association

of

Great

Britain

is

left

to

conjecture.