Book Reviews : Political Community at the International Level : Problems of Definition and Measurement. By KARL W. DEUTSCH. (Princeton: Princeton University Press. 1953. Pp v, 71.)

• Published date: 01 March 1956
• DOI: 10.1177/106591295600900116
• Date: 01 March 1956
• Author: Robert G. Neumann
• Subject Matter: Articles

177

collective

security,

regional

arrangements,

disarmament,

technical

assist-

ance,

and

independence,

self-government,

and

human

rights.

Along

with

these

citations

on

the

credit

side,

he

also

weighs

some

the

shortcomings

and

improvisations

of

the

United

Nations

in

practice,

thus

showing

in

a

number

of

definite

ways

how

corrections

may

be

made

and

improvements

possibly

achieved.

These

might

be

accomplished

by

alterations

in

methods,

develop-

ment

of

procedures,

or

revisions

of

the

Charter

itself.

In

the

reviewer’s

opinion,

the

two

final

chapters,

dealing

respectively

with

&dquo;Charter

Review&dquo;

and

&dquo;Attitude

of

Members,&dquo;

are

most

thought-

provoking

and

provocative

of

discussion.

With

regard

to

Charter

review,

Mr.

Eichelberger

proceeds

on

the

assumption

that

the

people

overwhelm-

ingly

want

a

stronger

United

Nations

to

preserve

the

peace;

but

it

is

his

feeling

that

until

the

tension

between

East

and

West

has

been

drastically

reduced,

and

until

governments

have

an

opportunity

for

more

careful

preparation,

a

diplomatic

conference

would

be

a

propaganda

battle

which

would

harm

rather

than

help

the

United

Nations.

Mr.

Eichelberger

believes

that

until

each

country

is

willing

to

regard

the

United

Nations

as

the

foundation

rather

than

the

instrument

of

its

foreign

policy

the

full

purpose

of

the

United

Nations

will

not

be

realized.

He

does

not

hazard

a

guess

as

to

when

nation-states

may

actually

adopt

the

more

idealistic

approach

which

is

here

recommended.

But

even

on

the

theoretical

level,

the

author’s

interpretation

on

this

point

might

be

challenged

by

the

school

of

thought

which

holds

that

there

is

validity

in

the

employment

of

international

organizations

as

instrumentalities

of

na-

tional

policy.

Probably

we

would

all

agree

with

the

author

that

in

the

long

run

the

success

of

the

United

Nations

is

dependent

upon

the

force

of

public

opinion.

Mr.

Eichelberger

believes

that

efforts

should

be

made

in

each

country

to

strengthen

this

opinion

by

building

knowledge

of

the

standards

of

the

United

Nations,

its

shortcomings

and

failures,

but

above

all

its

achievements

against

a

background

of

crises

and

unanticipated

develop-

ments.

Whittier

College.

J.

WILLIAM

ROBINSON.

Political

Community

at

the

International

Level :

Problems

of

Definition

and

Measurement.

By

KARL

W.

DEUTSCH.

(Princeton:

Princeton

Uni-

versity

Press.

1953.

Pp v,

71.)

This

is

a

brief

study

undertaken

under

the

auspices

and

as

part

of

the

Foreign

Policy

Analysis

Project

of

Princeton

University.

The

author

pro-

ceeds

from

the

readily

acceptable

assumption

that

&dquo;The

chief

problem

of

international

organization

is

the

attainment

of

stable

peace,

that

this

is