INSTITUTE OF WORLD ORGANIZATION. World Organization: A Balance Sheet of the First Great Experiment. Pp. xiv, 426. Washington: American Council on Pub lic Affairs, 1942. Paper Ed.: $3.00; Cloth Ed.: $3.75

AuthorLinden A. Mander
Published date01 November 1942
Date01 November 1942
DOIhttp://doi.org/10.1177/000271624222400136
Subject MatterArticles
200
temporary
German
Geopolitik
are
no
more
worthy
of
study
than
the
aberrations
of
a
demented
person;
hence,
&dquo;to
tell
the
es-
sentials
of
the
story
of
Geopolitik
we
must
dive
deep
into
the
recesses
of
the
conscious-
ness
of
those
preaching
and
practicing
the
doctrine&dquo;
(p.
27).
This
is
as
though,
con-
fronted
by
a
demented
person
run
amuck,
we
were
to
ask:
How
did
he
get
this
way?
instead
of
the
far
more
urgent:
What
is
he
thinking
of
now?
and
Where
will
he
strike
next?
Mattern’s
deep
dive
plunges
him
into
the
writings
of
the
German
geographer
Fried-
rich
Ratzel
(1844-1904)
and
the
Swedish
political
scientist
Rudolf
Kjell6n
(1864-
1922).
Ratzel
sounded
the
Lebensraum
motif
and
formulated
&dquo;seven
laws&dquo;
on
the
growth
of
states.
Kjell6n
adopted
the
con-
cept
of
the
state
as
&dquo;a
geographic
organism
or
as
a
phenomenon
in
space&dquo;
to
develop
a
theory
of
the
state
that
would
be
more
realistic
than
the
juridical
abstractions
and
formalisms
prevalent
in his
day.
These
deterministic
positions
are
critically
exam-
ined,
along
with
the
positions
of
lesser
geopoliticians,
on
the
proper
assumption
that
Geopolitik
is
something
more
than
a
doctrine
fashionable
in
Nazi
Germany.
But
the
author
owed
it
to
his
readers
to
show
to
what
extent
contemporary
German
geopoliticians
borrowed
from
their
prede-
cessors
and
to
what
extent
they
elaborated
distinctive
positions
of
their
own.
Haushofer
has
defined
Geopolitik
as
&dquo;the
science
dealing
with
the
dependence
of
po-
litical
events
upon
the
soil....
Geopolitik
aims
to
furnish
the
armature
for
political
action
and
guidance
in
political
life.&dquo;
Mat-
tern
appropriately
shows
that
this
&dquo;science&dquo;
is
to
be
distinguished
from
the
study
of
geography
as
an
objective, analytical
disci-
pline.
He
shows
that
the
analogy
between
the
state
and
the
biological
organism,
which
is
a
necessary
postulate
to
thinking
in
&dquo;have-not&dquo;
terms,
&dquo;is
too
vague
and
too
ridiculously
naive&dquo;
(p.
114).
He
conse-
quently
repudiates
the
idea
that
interna-
tional
conflict
is
to
be
explained
in
terms
of
a
struggle
between
dynamic
&dquo;have-
not&dquo;
states
and
static
&dquo;have&dquo;
states.
Here
Mattern
is
at
his
best.
For
the
peace
conference-to-come
he
warns
that
no
per-
manent
peace
can
be
achieved
unless
the
views
of
geopoliticians
are
completely
re-
jected.
H.
ARTHUR
STEINER
University
of
California
at
Los
Angeles
INSTITUTE
OF
WORLD
ORGANIZATION.
World
Organization:
A
Balance
Sheet
of
the
First
Great
Experiment.
Pp.
xiv,
426.
Washington:
American
Council
on
Pub-
lic
Affairs,
1942.
Paper
Ed.:
$3.00;
Cloth
Ed.:
$3.75.
This
volume,
written
by
some
twenty
authorities
most
of
whom
participated
in
the
work
at
Geneva,
describes
the
organi-
zation
and
functioning
of
the
League
of
Nations
and
its
various
agencies.
It
should
prove
most
valuable
to
all
persons
inter-
ested
in
world
reconstruction
at
the
con-
clusion
of
the
present
war,
for
in
its
pages
one
finds
many
striking
judgments
on
the
strengths
and
the
weaknesses
of
the
&dquo;Ge-
neva
Experiment.&dquo;
Specialists
in
the
field
of
international
relations
will
find
a
good
deal
to
stimulate
thought
on
the
more
detailed
and
intricate
problems,
but
the
book
contains
sufficient
descriptive
mate-
rial
to
make
it
a
source
of
excellent
in-
formation
for
students
who
wish
to
gain
a
knowledge
of
the
many-sidedness
of
the
League’s
activity
and
the
bewildering
com-
plexities
which
will
confront
the
world
at
the
conclusion
of
the
present
conflict.
.
There
is
no
unanimity
of
opinion
among
the
writers
concerning
the
fundamental
question
as
to
whether
the
failure
of
the
League
was
due
to
basic
or
merely
surface
weaknesses.
Hence
one
finds
that
some
of
the
writers
believe
that
future
reforms
should
center
about
the
Permanent
Court
of
International
Justice
or
a
strengthening
of
disarmament
provisions
with
incidental
security
arrangements,
while
others
advo-
cate
such
alterations
as
would
lead
to
World
Federation.
In
a
brief
review
it is
impossible
to
com-
ment
upon
the
contributions
of
each
chap-
ter,
for
the
field
which
the
writers
have
surveyed
ranges
from
politics
and
arma-
ments
to
health,
narcotics,
social
questions,
and
intellectual
co-operation;
from
com-
munications
and
transit
to
mandates
and
minorities;
from
the
ILO
and
the
World
Court
to
a
survey
of
the
League’s
relations
with
Danzig
and
the
Saar.
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