Book Reviews : The British Left Wing and Foreign Policy: A Study of the Influence of Ideology. By EUGENE J. MEEHAN. (New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 1960. Pp. xvi, 201. $5.00.)

• Published date: 01 December 1961
• DOI: 10.1177/106591296101400430
• Author: E. Malcolm Hause
• Date: 01 December 1961
• Subject Matter: Articles

984

concept

of

dysfunction.

What

are

the

results

of

the

insistence

on

conformity

to

the

folkways?

Some

factors

that

enhance

Senate

operations

in

one

respect

often

threaten

it

in

another;

they

may

have

both

functional

and

dysfunctional

con-

sequences.

He

illuminates

the

political

process

by

stating

that

party

leadership

has

a

dominant

influence

over

the

legislative

schedule

and

the

utilization

of

the

cham-

ber’s

time.

But

the

significant

influences

on

party

leadership

are

ignored.

In

concluding

that

the

Democratic

party

leadership

is

highly

personalized,

informal,

and

centralized,

while

the

G.O.P.

leadership

is

more

nearly

corporate

than

in-

dividual,

some

allusion

to

the

&dquo;federal&dquo;

and

&dquo;national&dquo;

character

of

the

parties

as

well

as

the

economic

and

social

issues

could

have

made

the

chapter

on

&dquo;Party

Leadership&dquo;

an

important

one.

If

his

analysis

of

the

Senate

had

been

&dquo;in

the

manner

of

a

political

scientist

studying

a

governmental

body,&dquo;

Professor

Matthews

could

have

produced

a

more

significant

book.

Ohio

State

University

MYRON Q.

HALE

The

British

Left

Wing

and

Foreign

Policy:

A

Study

of

the

Influence

of

Ideology.

By

EUGENE

J.

MEEHAN.

(New

Brunswick,

New

Jersey:

Rutgers

University

Press,

1960.

Pp.

xvi,

201.

$5.00.)

The

&dquo;chief

question

posed

for

this

study&dquo;

was:

&dquo;How

does

ideology

affect

the

opinions

and

beliefs

of

an

individual

in

relation

to

international

affairs?&dquo;

Because

the

&dquo;field

of

international

affairs

is

peculiarly

amenable

to

the

influence

of

ideology,&dquo;

this

question

was

raised,

data

assembled

and

carefully

studied

and

analyzed

as

the

means

to

an

end:

the

interest

of

the

author

in

the

general

proposition

of

the

&dquo;influence

of

ideology

as

ideology;

with

the

general

conse-

quences

of

any

ideology

and

not

with

the

specific

tenets

of

a

particular

ideology.&dquo;

A

Foreword

and

three

chapters

were

necessary

to

set

up

the

framework

of

the

report.

Then,

beginning

with

the

Greek

problem

during

and

after

World

War

II,

a

series

of

selected

international

crises,

not

always

major

ones,

were

dis-

sected

to

provide

the

data

for

the

survey.

Only

those

events

were

selected

that

did

not

require

a

great

amount

of

detailed

explanation,

or

that

added

abundant

data,

or

that

were

generally

typical;

&dquo;that

is,

those

materials

were

included

which

demonstrated

most

clearly

the

type

of

reaction

met

most

often

in

the

study

of

Left

Wing

opinion.&dquo;

For

example,

the

liberation

of

Greece

was

typical

of

the

whole

postwar

liberation

process;

the

Marshall

Plan

was

typical

of

the

disintegra-

tion

of

the

Grand

Alliance,

1945-48;

the

Korean

War

characterized

the

serious

threat

of

communism

to

the

Western

world.

In

the

final

chapter,

&dquo;Conclusions

and

applications,&dquo;

the

author

insists

the

data

substantiated

the

original

proposition

that

the

British

Left

Wing

took

a

rigid

and

dogmatic

approach

to

affairs

in

the

application

of

a

priori

absolutes

as

the

answers

to

crises.

Their

behavior

was

not

understandable

unless

viewed

on

the

backdrop

of

their

ideologies.

In

their

efforts

to

&dquo;force

events

into

a

pre-

determined

framework

derived

from

the

basic

principles

of

ideology&dquo;

they

over-