Book Reviews : The French Deputy: Incentives and Behavior in the National Assembly. By OLIVER H. WOSHINSKY. (Lexington: Lexington Books, 1973. Pp. 232. $14.00.)

• Published date: 01 December 1974
• Author: Sue Ellen M. Charlton
• DOI: 10.1177/106591297402700435
• Date: 01 December 1974
• Subject Matter: Articles

768

with

the

state.

Although

the

author

cites

evidence

of

Ben

Gurion’s

suspicion

against

Israeli

Arabs,

he

seems,

to

this

reviewer,

unduly

willing

to

accept

or

excuse

these

attitudes.

The

book,

nonetheless,

is

a

useful

and

concise

summary

not

only

of

Ben

Gurion’s

state-building

career

but

also

of

some

of

the

internal

conflicts

and

external

problems

confronted

by

the

fledgling

state

of

Israel.

The

book

could

have

been

improved

by

a

careful

and

severe

editing,

as

the

style

occasionally

is

awkward.

Although

the

author

reveals

his

own

biases,

these

do

not

seem

so

obtrusive

as

to

render

the

work

useless.

One

will

search

in

vain

for

completely

&dquo;unbiased&dquo;

or

&dquo;objective&dquo;

truth

in

the

account

of

any

single

analyst,

since

observations

are

de-

pendent

upon

point

of

view.

The

current

Middle

East

situation

is

one

in

which

points

of

view

are

widely

divergent

and

biases

often

easy

to

spot.

The

author’s

perspective

is

that

of

an

Israeli

(but

not

a

Sabra)

willing

to

criticize

but

more

than

a

little

admiring

of

the

role

played

by

Ben

Gurion.

Mills

College

JUDY

BERTELSEN

The

French

Deputy:

Incentives

and

Behavior

in

the

National

Assembly.

By

OLIVER

H.

WOSHINSKY.

(Lexington:

Lexington

Books,

1973.

Pp.

232.

$14.00.)

Incentive

analysis

is

defined

by

Woshinsky

as

the

study

of

the

motivations

which

draw

people

to

political

careers.

The

immediate

purpose

of

incentive

analy-

sis

is

to

identify

the

behavioral

patterns

characteristic

of

different

types

of

incen-

tives.

A

more

ambitious

theoretical

purpose

is

to

develop

the

use

of

incentive

analysis

for

explaining

group

behavior

in

legislatures

and

parties.

The

most

important

methodological

tool

of

incentive

analysis

is

the

open-

ended

interview,

which

is

subject

to

criticism

because

it

leaves

much

to

the

per-

ceptions

and

skill

of

both

interviewer

and

interviewee.

Its

great

advantage

is

that

it

provides

insights

into

the

behavior

and

motivations

of

political

actors

which

cannot

be

gleaned

through

written

questionnaires

or

statistical

analyses.

Woshin-

sky

completed

the

50

interviews

of

deputies

which

constitute

the

basic

research

for

this

book

during

1968

and

1969,

and

supplemented

them

by

extensive

information

culled

from

the

Journal

Officiel

of

the

National

Assembly.

Woshinsky

acknowledges

six

incentive

types

which

have

emerged

in

studies

of

political

incentives

undertaken

primarily

by

himself

and

James

L.

Payne

on

legislators

in

Colombia,

the

Dominican

Republic,

Brazil,

Connecticut

and

France.

Four

of

these

types

(status,

program,

mission

and

obligation)

were

observed

in

France,

and

a

discussion

of

these

constitutes

a

major

part

of

the

book.

The

status

participant

in

politics

seeks

to

enhance

his

social

prestige

through

political

office

and

is

not

interested

in

the

details

of

legislation,

party

operations

or

ideological

questions.

The

program

participant,

on

the

other

hand,

is

a

problem-

solver

and

a

cooperative

politician,

primarily

concerned

with

formulating

public

policies.

The

third

type

is

perhaps

the

most-studied

French

politician

because

of

his

preeminence

in

the

Communist

party

(PCF).

This

is

the

mission

participant,

doctrinaire

and

strongly

committed

to

a

movement

and

its

ideology.

Woshinsky