Book Reviews : Carlos de Alvear: Man of Revolution: The Diplomatic Career of Argentina's First Minister to the United States. By THOMAS B. DAVIS, JR. (Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press. 1955. Pp. ix, 305. $5.75.)

• DOI: 10.1177/106591295600900135
• Author: Russell H. Fitzgibbon
• Date: 01 March 1956
• Published date: 01 March 1956
• Subject Matter: Articles

202

territorial

and

military

issues;

Israel’s

view

of

Jews

outside

its

boundaries;

economic

and

social

problems;

and

an

expression

on

the

outlook

for

the

future.

Dr.

Rackman’s

basic

assumption

is

that

Israel

has

a

constitution,

though

not

a

formal,

written

one;

and

the

primary

purpose

of

his

study

is

&dquo;to

describe

the

making

of

that

constitution

in

the

first

three

years

of

the

existence

of

the

state.&dquo;

This

limited

period

covers

the

life

of

the

provisional

government

and

that

of

the

First

Knesset

(Israel’s

parliament).

The

book

does

not

purport

to

be

a

political

history

of

Israel

or

a

study

of

its

politics

and

government.

&dquo;It

deals

with

only ...

the

emergence

of

a

constitution

in

the

midst

of

war.&dquo;

This

is

no

easy

task

for

an

author.

If

Israel

had

a

formal,

written

constitution,

the

preparation

of

such

a

book

would

have

been

much

simpler.

It

could

then

have

dealt

with

specific

textual

articles

and

sections.

Under

these

circumstances,

the

method

Dr.

Rackman

chose

to

employ

was

&dquo;to

describe,

historically

and

functionally,

the

several

elements

of

which

Israel’s

constitution

is

a

composite

and

the

background

from

which

they

emerge.&dquo;

In

this

he

has

performed

admirably.

Despite

the

absence

of

a

written,

permanent

constitution

containing

a

formal

bill

of

rights,

Israel

is

a

democratic

country

with

an

independent

judiciary

which

functions

in

the

Anglo-American

legal

tradition

according

to

the

rule

of

law.

That

there

is

latent

danger

to

civil

liberties

in

Israel

is

apparently

true.

An

elite

bureaucracy,

a

vast

number

of

immigrants

who

have

never

known

democracy,

Jewish-Arab

friction,

financial

dependence

on

sources

outside

the

country,

and

the

unique

church-state

relationships

are

factors

contributing

to

this

peril.

That

the

solution,

however,

lies

strictly

in

the

written

constitutional

sphere,

as

Dr.

Rackman

appears

to

suggest,

is

somewhat

doubtful.

For

a

detailed

analysis

of

the

various

drafts

of

a

written

constitution

that

were

submitted

for

consideration,

the

attitudes

of

the

political

parties,

and

the

parliamentary

debates,

this

is

a

solid

book,

one

which

should

be

on

the

bookshelves

of

every

student

of

Middle

Eastern

political

science

and

law.

New

York

University.

OSCAR

KRAINES.

Carlos

de

Alvear:

Man

of

Revolution:

The

Diplomatic

Career

of

Argen-

tina’s

First

Minister

to

the

United

States.

By

THOMAS

B.

DAVIS,

JR.

(Durham,

N.C.:

Duke

University

Press.

1955.

Pp.

ix,

305.

$5.75.)

This

was

doubtless

a

difficulty

book

to

write

and,

by

that

same

token,

it

is

a

correspondingly

valuable

book.

It

was

very

probably

difficult

not

only

because

of

the

research,

which

has

been

quite

carefully

done,

but

also

because

of

the

nature

of

the

subject.