Concorde and Dissent, and: Europe and the New Technologies (review)

BOOK REVIEWS 229 diplomatic initiatives, such as strengthening ties with nations like Saudi Arabia and Oman, and military moves, most notably the creation of the Rapid Deployment Joint Tactical Force (RDJTF). The RDJTF was designed to respond quickly to crises throughout the world. From the start, however, the force has been plagued by resource constraints, operational difficulties, and political problems both at home and abroad. As McNaugher points out, the creation of the force has prompted mixed responses from Middle Eastern leaders. On the one hand they see the force as an effective short-term military response to Iranian or Soviet aggression, while on the other hand they fear that such a force could be used to take control of the oil fields in case of a crisis or even a sharp price increase by OPEC nations. Moreover, the American military presence is a political liability for friendly Arab leaders faced with strong domestic nationalist movements. McNaugher emphasizes the need for a mobile, adaptable, U.S. military presence rather than a large one. On the whole, however, he emphasizes diplomatic initiatives rather than deployment of American forces. The best thing for the United States to do, he argues, would be to use the security arrangements already in place among the nations of the area. In the absence of identifiable military objectives compatible with long-term American political aims in the area, this seems like a sensible approach. Concorde and Dissent. By ElliotJ. Feldman. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1985. 201 pp. $34.50/cloth. Europe and the New Technologies. Edited by Margaret Sharp. Ithaca, N. Y. : Cornell University Press, 1986. 312 pp. $32.50/cloth. Reviewed by Andrew C. Winner, M.A. Candidate, SAIS. Faced with the rise ofJapan as a technological Wunderkind with eager younger siblings like South Korea and Taiwan waiting in the wings, many in the United States and Western Europe are concerned with the ability of their nations to keep pace with the Far East in the development of new technologies. Two new books suggest answers to the question of Western Europe's uncertain technological future and the role governments can play in securing it. Elliot Feldman's Concorde and Dissent is a study of three past projects, the Anglo-French Concorde program and the planning of international airports outside London and Paris. Europe and the New Technologies, edited by Margaret Sharp, looks ahead, examining European prospects in six newly emerging high technology industrial activities. In Concorde and Dissent aerospace case studies are used to analyze the relationship between public policy and technology in Western Europe. All three examples involved large resource expenditures and were perceived to represent the best that each nation could offer in public projects. Feldman concludes by explaining why none of the projects was particularly successful. In his analysis Feldman debunks some stereotypes about national strengths and weaknesses 230 SAIS REVIEW in policymaking. In the case of Charles de Gaulle airport outside Paris, the legendary French expertise in planning did not lead to a positive outcome, largely because Aéroport de France, the state agency overseeing construction, neglected to coordinate its activities with other interested parties. This bureaucratic insulation from politics may have helped to squelch the opposition that airport building has generated elsewhere, for example Japan, but it also led to costly mistakes, particularly the complete destruction of the town of Roissy-en-France. In addition, the location of the airport and the new transportation facilities built to ease access to it were not coordinated with the French National Plan, a blueprint for the modernization of the French transportation system. Contrary to the generalization that British policymaking is overly politicized, Feldman argues that the failure to construct a third London international airport was caused not by excessive political participation but by inconsistent and inadequate direction and supervision of the project. This in turn was caused by the frequent alternation of political parties during the years that the plan was under study. As governments came and went, so did the interest of political leaders in a new airport. Another stereotype is the view that British management of technology is unprofessional and French management of technology is considered above politics. Feldman's discussion...