Book Reviews : Labor and Economic Development. Edited by WALTER GALENSON. (New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1959. Pp. v, 304, $6.75.)
| DOI | 10.1177/106591296001300227 |
| Published date | 01 June 1960 |
| Date | 01 June 1960 |
| Author | Alex Gottfried |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
534
and
significance
to
the
tangle
of
French
actions
and
attitudes
in
international
politics
since
World
War
II.
The
book
consists
of
three
parts,
each
of
which
deals
with
a
separate
period.
Part
One
explains
how
a
disparity
between
France’s
economic,
social,
and
politi-
cal
potential
and
her
desire
to
be
a
world
power
provided
a
basis
for
the
&dquo;pro-
crastination,
obfuscation,
and
vacillation&dquo;
which
climaxed
in
the
Indochinese
debacle,
the
scuttling
of
the
European
Defense
Community
treaty,
and
other
failures.
Part
Two,
which
comprises
three-fifths
of
the
book,
explains
that
the
immobilisme
of
governments
in
the
last
four
years
of
the
Fourth
Republic
was
a
result
of
an
impossibility
to
provide
the
means
for
even
as
much
as
a
minimum
compromise
between
factions
which
divided
Parliament
and
the
country.
&dquo;Do-
nothingness&dquo;
in
the
face
of
crises
in
Tunisia,
Morocco,
and
sub-Saharan
Africa,
of
anxieties
connected
with
NATO,
Germany,
and
Britain,
and
of
the
Algerian
conflict
dug
a
grave
into
which
the
uprising
of
May
13,
1958,
gave
a
final
push
to
the
Republic.
The
third
part
explains
that
the
Fifth
Republic
inherited
not
only
the
problems
of
its
predecessor
but
also
the
limited
means
which
had
been
unsuccessful
in
solving
them.
At
first
De
Gaulle
succeeded
in
making
the
Al-
gerian
situation
&dquo;somewhat
more
malleable&dquo;;
but
after
a
year
in
power
&dquo;any
easy
optimism
about
De
Gaulle’s
ability
to
bring
contending
groups
together
and
to
reach
a
settlement
had
all
but
vanished.&dquo;
Mr.
Furniss
concludes
with
a
warning
to
the
United
States
not
to
mistake
French
diplomatic
skill
for
strength.
He
declares
that
constitutional
and
admin-
‘
istrative
reforms
and
the
will-power
of
De
Gaulle
are
insufficient
to
bridge
the
gap
between
French
aspirations
and
capabilities.
According
to
Mr.
Furniss,
France
is
weak
and
may
become
weaker.
The
role
for
which
she
is
best suited
is
that
of
a
leader
in
continental
European
affairs.
The
principal
weakness
of
France,
Troubled
Ally
occurs
in
the
chapters
in
which
the
author
attempts
to
relate
French
foreign
affairs
to
immobilisme.
Here,
he
frequently
abandons
critical
analysis
in
favor
of
the
declamations
of
an
out-
raged
observer.
The
difficulty
seems
to
be
that
the
theme
of
immobilisme
is
in-
capable
of
providing
a
satisfying
explanation
of
politics
and
policies.
In
fact,
immobilisme
is
a
phenomenon
which,
like
the
foreign
policies
of
which
Mr.
Furniss
has
written,
demands
an
explanation
in
terms
of
fundamental
socio-
economic
tensions
and
traditional
cleavages.
Fortunately,
towards
the
end
of
Part
Two
Mr.
Furniss
drops
this
issue
and
returns
to
his
original
theme.
He
then
presents
a
perceptive
account
of
the
events
which
brought
De
Gaulle
to
power
and goes
on
to
give
a
keen
analysis
of
the
problems
which
face
the
Fifth
Republic.
WILLARD
ROSS
YATES
Lehigh
University
Labor
and
Economic
Development.
Edited
by
WALTER
GALENSON.
(New
York:
John
Wiley
and
Sons,
1959.
Pp.
v,
304,
$6.75.)
This
is
another
symposium
about
underdeveloped
or
economically
backward
countries.
But
this
volume
addresses
itself
to
a
problem
narrower
than
their
total
dilemma,
for
it is
concerned
only
with
the
status
and
problems
of
the
labor
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