Review

Author(s): Ernst B. Haas

Review by: Ernst B. Haas
Source: Political Science Quarterly, Vol. 80, No. 4 (Dec., 1965), pp. 680-682
Published by: Academy of Political Science
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2147035
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680 POLITICAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY [Vol. LXXX

The Role of Theory in International Relations. Edited by

HORACE V. HARRISON. Princeton, Toronto, New York, and
London, D. Van Nostrand, 1964.-vii, 118 pp. $2.95.
Systems of Integrating the International Community. Edited
by ELMERPLISCHKE. Princeton, Toronto, New York, and Lon-
don, D. Van Nostrand, 1964.-ix, 198 pp. $4.25.
Europe Ascendant: The International Politics of Unification.
By GEORGELISKA. Baltimore, The Johns Hopkins Press, 1964.
-x, 182 pp. $4.50.
What should be the role of theory in international relations?
The question is complicated by the lack of clarity as to whether
we are discussing scholarly thought about international relations,
the practice of statecraft in international relations, or the arrange-
ment of teaching materials concerning international relations.
The volume edited by Horace V. Harrison does little to clarify
the issue. Quincy Wright's essay is a skillful condensation of the
message in The Study of International Relations and is intended
as a prolegomenon to any future theory of international rela-
tions, but it is not a theory itself. In its embrace of field theory
as the major organizing framework it seeks to merge in one over-
arching concept the three competing focuses mentioned above.
The twenty-two "half-truths" with which Wright closes the essay
do little to illustrate the utility of field theory, however interest-
ing they may be in their own right. Kenneth W. Thompson
discusses the origins, uses, and problems of theory and in so doing
is deeply concerned with the relationship between "pure" theoriz-
ing, statecraft, and teaching. He finds the origins of theoretical
approaches in historical policy and moral issues; he urges that
theory be used to do justice to the complexity of life and morals;
and he warns that the problems of theory are so overwhelm-
ing as to suggest the futility of highly disciplined theorizing.
Thompson makes the task of theory so demanding as to approach
a non-theoretical stance. And this is also the case with Hans J.
Morgenthau's contribution. Here theory becomes no more than
reasonable and systematic advice to the statesman; Morgenthau
joins Martin Wight in holding that there can be no thorough-
going theory of international relations because history is too full
of contingency. He ridicules contemporary efforts at systematic
conceptualization and asserts that modern theory's duty is the
same as that of classical political philosophy. In the past, theory
had the task of advising the ruler on how to best his enemies; in
the contemporary setting it is the duty of the theorist to demon-
strate the obsolescence of the nation-state! Power theory has

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No. 4] REVIEWS 681

come a long way since Scientific Man v. Power Politics. But

power theorists seem still to be unable to make up their minds
as to the proper focus of th-eirwork.
W. T. R. Fox's essay in the Harrison volume tackles the prob-
lem from a different and far more sophisticated angle. He dis-
tinguishes between scholarly theory, "theory" in the sense of
operational ideologies entertained by decision-makers and their
academic advisers, and a sophisticated dialogue between these
two layers of abstraction. He argues persuasively that these are
different preoccupations, each following its own inner logic. But
he also demonstrates when and where the two have influenced
each other, where operational ideologies have borrowed from
academic theory and how academic theorists must reason with
the statesman in order to "unmask" the ideology.
Systems of Integrating the International Community, edited by
Elmer Plischke, manages to include three "good" theoretical
words in the title: system, integration, and community. The
reader, however, should not be misled into thinking that all the
contributions then proceed to dissect and synthesize international
relations in these theoretically appealing terms. In fact, accord-
ing to Plischke's introductory essay, "system of integrating" seems
to mean little more than a historical account of the mushroom-
ing of international organizations. Instead, Carl J. Friedrich's
essay, "International Federalism in Theory and Practice," could
and should have served as the conceptual anchor for the volume
because it does deal with the issue of integration at all levels of
government. Friedrich's "federalizing process" is here defined,
applied to many historical situations, contrasted with other
notions of describing and predicting the unification and breakup
of political units, and presented as the best hope for both ex-
plaining and prescribing how the United Nations can contribute
to everyone's welfare. This essay is of importance because it
must be regarded as the most recent statement of a theoretical
position Friedrich has been developing for many years. How-
ever, what it gains in comprehensiveness it loses in detailed ana-
lytical rigor.
The other contributors eschew any theoretical intent and fur-
nish competent descriptions of certain developments in inter-
national organization. Francis 0. Wilcox presents the story of
the changing United Nations, the evolution of the General
Assembly, the autonomous Secretary-General, the standing peace
forces; he comes to the odd conclusion that the sovereign state
is here to stay. Arnold Zurcher summarizes, accurately and read-
ably, the complicated story of European integration since 1945.
He joins other observers in believing that the thrust of economic

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682 POLITICAL SCIEiNCE QUARTERLY [Vol. LXXX

integration will be sufficient to usher in eventual political unity,

under whatever legal label. W. W. Kulski ends the volume with
a description of regional trends in Eastern Europe. The relaxa-
tion of Soviet control since 1953 is attributed to the historical
tendency for national minorities to espouse theological hetero-
doxy; in other words, nationalism is winning over communism.
The discussion, however, hardly rises above the level of sum-
maries of recent history.
George Liska's Europe Ascendant, by contrast, is theory at its
grandest and most personal. The rebirth and unification of
Western Europe is here treated in the form of a highly individual
perception, a historical vision-both of the past and the future-
which glories in ever-regrouping equilibria, compelling historical
parallels spanning hundreds of years, and the immutable lessons
of statecraft. Hence the insight which led Bismarck to unify
Germany is, to follow Liska, now being acted out by de Gaulle,
who must lead Western Europe back to independence by giving
his Common Market partners only the choice between isolation
or close alliance with France. So much for nasty England and
imperialistic America. Let it be noted that these judgments are
not so much based on a marshaling and projecting of contempo-
rary social, economic, and military data as on historical analogy
couched in hyperbolic language. "What is acceptable in the
truly great and inescapable challenges to statecraft, however, has
a way of being at once necessary and worthy of undertaking"
(p. 170), concludes Liska. Hence, that which is perceived by
great minds as willed by history is binding on statesman and
theorist alike. The possibility that the social context of history
may be subject to change as the technological and human infra-
structure develops is hardly given credence in this context. The
pursuit of power and the understanding of power remain-appar-
ently forever-the fundamental aspects of life which successful
statecraft and theory have mastered. And this is where I came in.
ERNST B. HAAS
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY

On Escalation: Metaphors and Scenarios. By HERMAN KAHN.

New York, Washington, and London, FREDERICK
A. PRAEGER,
1965.-xvii, 308 pp. $6.95.
Herman Kahn's teaching is a knife-sharp, bright, useful to
the point of indispensability, but dangerous if wielded by un-
skilled or aggressive hands. In this book he continues and
refines his disquisition on the realities of modern military strategy
that he began in earlier works, notably On Thermonuclear War-

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