In Search of Security: The Third World in International Relations (review)

BOOK REVIEWS 249 reader (or merely to reinforce a previous degree ofexpertise) on the technologies involved in nuclear commerce, legal and otherwise. Although occasional repetitiveness leads one to feel that the book could have been condensed somewhat , it is nonetheless a highly worthwhile work that deals effectively with the complex and controversial issues involved in the nuclear nonproliferation regime. In Search of Security: The Third World in International Relations. By Caroline Thomas. Boulder, Colo.: Lynne Rienner Publishers, Inc., 1987. 228 pp., $30.00/cloth, $14.95/paper. Reviewed by Angela Lykos, M.A. candidate, SAIS. Caroline Thomas intends In Search of Security to be a textbook designed to familiarize the student of international relations with the problems confronting developing countries. Given her assumption that economic independence precludes political security, she devotes much of her book to arguing that the present global economic system, as run by the industrialized nations, violates Third World states' sovereignty. In using this analytical framework of NorthSouth relations, Thomas presents a one-sided account of the Third World's plight in the international system. Thomas asserts that the international monetary system, as led by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), deprives the developing nations of the right to form their own economic policies. Since the IMF's primary aim is the maintenance of the world capitalist system, it chooses to ignore the Third World's special needs. By pointing out that the IMF's stabilization programs impose austere conditions on nations seeking assistance, Thomas questions the IMF's premise that balance of payments equilibrium facilitates economic growth. Moreover, she contends that the IMF incorrectly assumes that a developing nation 's domestic policies are the main cause of balance of payments difficulties and that it disregards the fact that exogenous factors often play a crucial role. Although Thomas's interpretation is valid, she oversimplifies the Third World's dilemma by placing so much emphasis on the IMF's actions and by failing to elaborate on other external and internal causes. Thomas also criticizes the international trade system for being insensitive to Third World problems: The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, the IMF's counterpart, has established a trade structure inherently biased against the developing nations. Third World efforts to reform the existing trade regime, such as United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, have been disappointing , since the industrialized countries are primarily interested in preserving their economic power, not in distributive justice. She also maintains that world hunger is due not to a supply shortage but to an unfair distribution system among nations. Thomas, however, acknowledges that the problem ofland reform does exist at the domestic level. In the political arena, Thomas denounces the nuclear weapons NonProliferation Treaty as an effort by the nuclear powers to formalize inequalities 250 SAIS REVIEW in the international system. Since nuclear weapons are symbols of power, by preventing the Third World from acquiring them, the superpowers maintain their dominant position. Thomas disagrees with the notion that the developing nations do not possess the "common sense" to have nuclear weapons at their disposal. Nevertheless, the Third World is more volatile than the industrialized nations, and Thomas fails to consider what effect the acquisition of nuclear weapons by the developing nations would have on stability. Finally, Thomas uses Jamaica as a case study to illustrate how external factors, such as foreign governments, multinationals, the IMF, and the capitalist economic system limit a developing nation's policy options. What characterizes Thomas as a typical Third World proponent is her argument that the main cause of the Third World's economic and political dilemmas are the industrialized nations' actions. Although In Search of Security is not objective, it does provide a comprehensive view of one side of the North-South confrontation. Soviet-Latin American Relations in the 1980s. Edited by Augusto Varas. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1987. 290 pp. $38.50/cloth. Reviewed by Susan Thornton, M.A. candidate, SAIS. Traditional Soviet-Latin American relations have been cautious and have not enjoyed a high priority in the USSR— which, for the most part, acknowledges U.S. hegemony in the region and seeking to avoid provoking further superpower tensions by challenging declarations of U.S. strategic...