In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

228 SAIS REVIEW more than a small fraction of the entire text. This near-miracle could not have been accomplished if no more had been at stake than navigation and fisheries, hydrocarbons and manganese nodules, marine science and marine mammals. Not that these are unimportant. But what drove the conference was the awareness that its success would strengthen the world's ability to cope with the consequences of its own inseparability . I wish Dr. Hollick had discussed this dimension. The book's most valuable contribution is its account of the ordeal of policy formulation and execution in an internal battleground where manifold interests compete and clash. From this account emerges a nightmarish picture of a huge, slow-moving machine whose interlocking parts now swell, now shrink, now change position, and constantly fluctuate in relative force. At one stage, defense concerns dominate, at another, resource interests gain priority. At one stage the secretary of state takes personal charge, at another, no one above the rank of deputy assistant secretary is seriously interested. The struggle to reconcile interagency differences crowds out coherent strategic planning. Delegation leaders come and go. Although in UNCLOS III these weaknesses were by no means confined to the United States (Great Britain, West Germany, and Japan suffered more from discontinuity of leadership, and Soviet policy was subject to sharper changes of direction ), the United States, having more at stake than any other country, could even less afford them. And though the law of the sea should not soon require another such comprehensive effort, other multilateral challenges underscore the urgency of designing more adequate policymaking machinery. A case in point is the telecommunications arena in which such issues as the allocation of slots in the geostationary orbit, direct satellite broadcasting, and remote sensing stand roughly where LOS issues stood ten years ago. Dr. Hollick's concluding chapter points to some useful lessons for the future. The book went to press before President Reagan's decision not to sign the Law of the Sea Convention cast into limbo the prospect of deep seabed mining under the U.S. flag and created uncertainty as to our entitlement to claim the treaty's protection of our navigational interests. It is somewhat surprising, nevertheless, that these problems are not addressed. On the contrary, even the idea of a "minitreaty," a dubious proposition on which the convention's opponents set much store, gets only glancing and uncritical mention. Although it will not be easy to apply these lessons if the policymaking process is not improved, Dr. Hollick has rendered an important service by calling attention to them. Ideology and Development in Africa. By Crawford Young. A Council on Foreign Relations Book. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1982. 376 pp. $30. Reviewed by Alexander A. Alimanestianu. In his latest book, Ideology and Development in Africa, Crawford Young sets out to describe and analyze the elusive relationship between ideology and African development . The scope of Young's undertaking is impressive. While other writers, BOOK REVIEWS 229 like the Ottaways,* have studied one ideology—Afrocommunism—in selected countries , few have sought to trace capitalist, socialist, and Marxist influences on the performance of African countries the continent over. The sheer number of African states and different ideologies make the challenge daunting. But, as in his earlier works, Politics in the Congo: Decolonization andIndependence ( 1965) and Politics ofCultural Pluralism (1976), Young has shown himself adept at handling abundant empirical data. Most African countries have been independent for twenty years, and the outcome of their ideological experiments has not been conclusive. Marxist regimes, most of which were established in the second half of the 1970s, are still too young to pass judgment on. Some observers of African development have drawn premature conclusions about the success ofcapitalist and socialist development strategies. Capitalism in the African context, it is said, produces growth but creates a gulf between rich and poor and dependence on the West, while socialism engenders equality and selfreliance but economic stagnation. Wary of facile conclusions, Young promises the reader from the outset only "reflections—imperfect and tentative" on the debate surrounding ideological impact on development. Although Young recognizes the importance of factors other than ideology, such as colonial history...

pdf

Share