Book Reviews : Im Wechselspiel der Koalitionen: Eine Analyse der Bundestagswahl 1969. By WERNER KALTEFLEITER, with PETER AREND, PAUL KEVENHÖRSTER and RÜDIGER ZÜLCH. (Cologne, Berlin, Bonn, Munich: Carl Heymanns Verlag, Verfassung und Verfassungswirklichkeit series, 1970. Pp. 187.)

Date01 December 1971
DOI10.1177/106591297102400430
Published date01 December 1971
Subject MatterArticles
832
dent
will
not
be
bored
and
his
understanding
of
France
cannot
help
but
be
en-
hanced.
In
fact,
he
will
probably
find
that
the
book
is
both
informative
and
well
written,
two
qualities
which
do
not
always
go
hand
in
hand.
Certainly,
by
any
standard,
France:
The
Politics
of
Continuity
and
Change
is
a
useful
and
needed
contribution
to
the
literature
of
comparative
politics.
War
Plots
and
Scandals
in
Post-War
France
by
Philip
Williams
is
also
a
useful
though
more
specialized
contribution
to
the
literature
of
comparative
politics.
Williams’
book
is
a
collection
of
essays
and
articles
dealing
with
the
recurring
phenomena
of
political
plots
and
scandals
in
France
since
World
War
II.
On
the
first
page
is
found
the
statement
that
&dquo;France
is
the
classic
land
of
political
scandal&dquo;
and
much
of
the
book
documents
the
thesis
that
scandal
manipulation
is
an
accepted
political
technique
of
both
right
and
left
in
that
country.
In
post-
war
France,
decolonization
and
its
attendant
problems
have
furnished
even
more
material
for
political
scandal
and
plots
than
is
normally
found
in
a
country
whose
deep-seated
divisions
lead
to
basic
mistrust
of
officeholders
and
to
frequent
trials
of
public
officials
for
abusing
the
public
trust.
The
first
part
of
the
book
is
an
introduction
and
analysis
of
the
general
problem
of
plots
and
scandals
in
French
history.
The
second
part
deals
with
the
major
scandals
during
the
1950’s
and
1960’s
such
as
the
Ben
Barka
incident,
while
part
three
covers
plots
arising
out
of
the
Algerian
crisis
and
army
attempts
to
over-
throw
the
Fourth
and
Fifth
Republics.
The
last
two
articles
in
the
book
com-
pose
part
four
and
both
are
extremely
interesting.
One
article
contains
a
biting
analysis
of
De
Gaulle’s
foreign
policy,
and
the other
draws
fascinating
parallels
between
the
French
policy
in
Algeria
and
the
American
policy
in
Vietnam.
Although
some
of
the
articles
contained
in
the
book
are
dated
by
events
and
the
subject
matter
with
which
the
articles
deal
is
specialized,
nevertheless,
War
Plots
and
Scandals
in
Post-War
France
is
a
useful
readings
book
for
a
comparative
politics
course
because
it
sheds
much
light
on
an
aspect
of
politics
about
which
little
is
known
whether
in
France
or
anywhere
else.
University
of
Arkansas
at
Little
Rock
CAL
LEDBETTER,
JR.
Im
Wechselspiel
der
Koalitionen:
Eine
Analyse
der
Bundestagswahl
1969.
By
WERNER
KALTEFLEITER,
with
PETER
AREND,
PAUL
KEVENHÖRSTER
and
RÜDIGER
ZÜLCH.
(Cologne,
Berlin,
Bonn,
Munich:
Carl
Heymanns
Verlag,
Verfassung
und
Verfassungswirklichkeit
series,
1970.
Pp.
187.)
This
collaborative
study
of
the
1969
parliamentary
elections
in
the
Federal
Republic
deserves
detailed
attention
from
specialists
in
German
affairs
and
com-
parative
political
parties.
The
authors
take
the
momentous
shift
which
occurred
in
1969
with
the
passing
of
the
CDU/CSU
into
the
opposition
and
examine
it
with
care
from
the
point
of
view
of
each
of
the
three
major
parties
and
of
the
change
in
the
party
system.
The
treatment
of
the
three
parties
is
not
uniform,
although
the
reader
may
wish
some
details
had
been
worked
out
more
evenly.
But
the
chapters

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