A High Technology Gap? (review)

BOOK REVIEWS 217 A High Technology Gap? By Andrew J. Pierre, ed. New York: Council on Foreign Relations, 1987. 114 pp. $6.95/paper. New York: New York University Press, 1987. 114 pp. $19.95/cloth. Reviewed by Rachel Bayly, M.A. candidate, SAIS. Economic strength and competitiveness in international trade are today becoming requisites for a nation's stability and security, complicating relations within the Atlantic Alliance. A technology gap between Europe on the one hand and the United States and Japan on the other has serious implications; a technologically and economically uncompetitive Europe could become both more protectionist and politically unstable. As part of its Project on European-American Relations, the Council on Foreign Relations has just published A High Technology Gap?, a collection of lucid and compelling essays on this topic. The book brings together essays by four eminent figures in the field: Frank Press, president of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences; Herbert Curien, former French minister of research and technology; Carlo De Benedetti, chairman and chief executive officer of Olivetti & Co. in Italy; and Keichi Oshima, chairman of Technova, Inc. in Japan. The four authors ofA High Technology Gap? compare the industrial structures and policy options of Europe, the United States, and Japan. They conclude that Europe can become competitive in high-technology products only if it can create a truly European economy. In order to create this economy, Europe would have to abolish internal European trade barriers; develop a unified European capital market; promote entrepreneurship and risk-taking; develop greater cooperation among industries, universities, and foreign partners; and remain open to technological and social change. Although these tasks are being addressed throughout Europe, progress is frustratingly slow; the complexity and traditions of Europe present enormous obstacles for the kind of restructuring necessary for European economic growth. According to Frank Press, the United States can contribute to a European revival while promoting its own growth. It can choose to make procurement related to the Strategic Defense Initiative more open to European firms and consortia, resolve policy differences with its allies on technology transfer to nonNATO and Soviet countries, and cooperate in European-based research and product development projects. Press recommends that the United States reduce its national deficit, thus making investment in the United States less attractive than investment in Europe, and promote trade practices conducive to technological innovation. One possible step would be a more rational system of world copyrights and patents. The outlook for Japan is not precisely formulated by any of the authors. Press argues that Japan can no longer rely on its strengths in the production and distribution of products— on making improved products faster and cheaper— but must contribute more to global basic research and development. Oshima goes further, suggesting that the Japanese government is now under pressure to develop a new framework on international technological enterprise 218 SAIS REVIEW that encompasses (1) relations with the United States, (2) the newly industrialized countries and a potential intra-Pacific technological alliance, and (3) relations with Europe. Unfortunately, Oshima describes only vaguely the dynamics of the Japanese-European relationship and fails to pinpoint Japan's interests in cooperation with Europe. This collection of essays provides a wealth of ideas on the state of European science and technology vis-à-vis the United States andJapan. While generally lacking detailed data, the essays add depth, color, and hope to a broad policy discussion that is too often clouded by pessimism. Unfortunately, the book does not conclusively examine European-Japanese relations. Nor does it touch on the effect of European technological advances on the markets, competitiveness , and use of technology in developing countries. Despite its disappointments , A High Technology Gap? clearly presents some pressing issues in U.S.-European-Japanese relations and offers some thought-provoking recommendations. South Africa Without Apartheid: Dismantling Racial Domination. By Heribert Adam and Kogila Moodley. Berkeley, Calif. : University of California Press, 1986. 267 pp. $18.95/hardcover. Reviewed by Chris Allen, M.A. candidate, SAIS. South Africa Without Apartheid presents solid social analysis and clear ideological commitment in a scholarly field littered with glib pronouncements and simplistic judgments. Adam and Moodley's collaborative work brings to the South Africa debate what...