Book Reviews : Studies in Modern Indian Political Thought (Gandhi, an Interpretation). By O. P. GOYAL. (Allahabad : Kitab Mahal (W.D.) Pvt. Ltd, 1964. Pp. iii, 100. Rs. 10.00. )

• DOI: 10.1177/106591296601900127
• Published date: 01 March 1966
• Date: 01 March 1966
• Author: H. Arthur Steiner
• Subject Matter: Articles

168
Specifically, why should we be more apprehensive about the impact of such groups
on policy than about the impact of economic, occupational, regional groups, or that
of scientists or military men, to cite just some possibilities? To be sure, this book was
written about one topic and not the other, but one detects a strong feeling that be-
cause such groups are based on birth or ancestry in some foreign land, their policy
recommendations are somehow less apt to coincide with those of the country at large
than do those of other groupings on the American political scene. If this were indeed
the point behind the apprehensions, it would raise profound questions about the
American political system, process, and ideology.
It could conceivably be argued, on the other side of the issue, that ethnic groups
inject an element of concern with at least some areas outside the United States into
a body politic which is not noted for its general ability to empathize with foreign
lands and peoples. It could be argued, too, that at times the presence of such groups
has been useful to our foreign policy, as when the government tried to utilize Amer-
icans of Italian descent to influence the Italian election of 1948. These, however, are
side issues. More importantly, this reviewer (who, like the author of the book, was an
immigrant in the 1930’s) sees no reason for the a priori assumption that ethnic
groups make a less desirable type of contribution to the American political process
than do groups based on other criteria. Political opinions and behavior in America
are based on a vast multiplicity of factors, and it is not easy to see how one could
specify which of these is more or less acceptable.
The author’s concrete recommendations for correcting the problem -
assuming
that there is one -
strike one as unrealistic and, specifically in the case of the pro-
posed reform of the electoral system, entirely undesirable on other grounds.
FRED A. SONDERMANN
Colorado College
Studies...