Book Reviews : Européens et Marocains: 1930-1956. By LADISLAV CERYCH. (Bruges : De Tempel, 1964. Pp. xvi, 431. Belgian Francs 500.-.)

• Author: Frank Munk
• Published date: 01 March 1966
• DOI: 10.1177/106591296601900118
• Date: 01 March 1966
• Subject Matter: Articles

157

spirit

we

call

constitutionalism,

Choudhury

gives

emphasis

to

this

point

by

his

im-

plicit

assumption

that

a

book

on

democracy

in

a

given

country

will

be

concerned

primarily

with

constitutional

clauses.

It

may

well

be

that

the

primary

ingredient

for

the

success

or

failure

of

a

newly

developing

democracy

is

strength

of

leadership.

Perhaps

a

society

based

on

wide

popular

participation

in

political

life

is

possible

only

when

leaders

are

sufficiently

vigorous

to

mold

popular

opinion

into

effective

action

while

simultaneously

con-

tributing

to

the

tradition

of

a

free

society.

It

can

be

said

that

Choudhury

is

aware

of

these

possibilities

when

he

writes

of

the

dismal

interregnum

between

Mohammed

Ali

Jinnah

and

Ayub

Khan.

The

reader

is

left

to

wonder,

however,

if

a

book

entitled

Democracy

in

Pakistan

should

not

place

major

emphasis

on

such

issues

even

when

discussing

the

sometimes

rather

academic

exercise

of

drafting

a

constitution.

Whitman

College

ROBERT Y.

FLUNO

Européens

et

Marocains:

1930-1956.

By

LADISLAV

CERYCH.

(Bruges :

De

Tempel,

1964.

Pp. xvi, 431.

Belgian

Francs

500.-.)

Relations

between

Euramericans

and

present

or

former

colonial

peoples

may

well

represent

the

most

dramatic

aspect

of

this

century,

and

one

which

easily

might

lead

to

catastrophy.

The

problem

is

continuously

recreated

by

new

contacts

of

the

kind

now

encountered

in

Viet

Nam.

Dr.

Cerych’s

study,

published

under

the

aus-

pices

of

the

College

of

Europe,

should

be

carefully

pondered

by

any

person

who

does

not

go

for

any

instant

solutions.

It

is

a

well-documented

analysis

of

the

last

few

decades

of

the

French

protec-

torate

over

Morocco,

which

began

in

1912

and

ended

with

Moroccan

independence

in

1956.

The

author

carefully

describes

the

growth

of

nationalism,

first

slowly

and

then

suddenly

reaching

maturity,

the

influence

which

President

Roosevelt’s

encoun-

ter

with

the

Sultan

in

1943

had

on

weakening

relations

with

France

(some

think

this

was

the

decisive

moment),

the

evolution

of

the

Istiqlal

party

and

the

final

demise

of

the

Protectorate.

Two

chapters

are

devoted

to

the

economic

and

sociological

struc-

ture

of

the

country,

the

problem

of

Arabs

and

Berbers,

the

role

of

Islam,

urbanization

and

other

related

aspects.

However,

Henri

Brugmans

is

right

when

he

says

in

the

introduction

that

the

most

interesting

part

of

the

book

is

the

one

dealing

with

relations

between

Europeans

and

the

native

population.

Why,

he

asks,

have

all

European

nations,

without

excep-

tion,

missed

the

boat,

as

it

were;

why

did

they

all

harbor

the

illusion

that

native

nationalism

would

only

be

a

passing

phenomenon;

that

one

could

hold

it

back

by

imprisoning

some

and

corrupting

others.

Cerych’s

answer

is

that

colonialism,

or

what

he

calls

&dquo;the

colonial

situation,&dquo;

creates

its

own

set

of

attitudes

both

on

the

part

of

the

dominant

group

and

the

one

dominated.

Whatever

his

politics

may

have

been

in

France,

the

Frenchman

in

Morocco

in

a

few

months

became

a

conservative

and

a

traditionalist.

This

was

true

even

of

French

socialists

or

revolutionaries,

and,

even

more

remarkably,

of

Spanish

communists

who

found

a

refuge

in

Morocco.

Indeed

it

was

common

to

all

Europeans,

as

well

as

the

few

Americans

who

settled

in

the