THE FUNCTIONING OF THE INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL SYSTEM.

ByAndrew M. Scott '45. New York: TheMacmillan Company, 1967. 244 pp. $3.95(paperback).

Data collection and analysis regarding the economic system have become very sophisticated in the twentieth century. Unfortunately, no comparable innovations have occurred in the collection and processing of data on the international political system. Andrew Scott, Professor of Political Science at the University of North Carolina, has attempted to get students of international relations to reexamine some of their assumptions in order to lay the foundation for more rigorous theorizing.

Scott believes that a "new outlook" is needed. "The intellectual apparatus of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries cannot be relied upon as a guide to the twentieth. ... Men need to think about international politics in a different way." A number of new factors must be accounted for by international political theorists. The increasing interdependence of states leads Scott to conclude that "the image of a world of sov- ereign, impermeable nation-states is ... out of accord with realities of the contemporary world." New actors on the world stage must also be recognized - international and supra-national organizations and nongovernmental organizations. New forms of statecraft, such as economic aid and unconventional warfare, must also be considered. This emphasis on new ways of thinking about international politics is the strong point of this book.

Regrettably, the book is unlikely to receive many favorable reviews. The chapters are organized as sets of numbered propositions, a format that makes the book difficult to read. The author defends stating even the most self-evident propositions in this self-conscious way on the grounds that it promotes analytical clarity and forces people to reexamine the supposedly self-evident. This reviewer agrees with Scott on the importance of semantic clarity and explicit statement of assumptions at this particular stage in the development of the study of international politics. Without the cloak of ambiguity, error finds it difficult to survive. In the last half of the twentieth century mankind cannot afford the luxury of fuzzy thinking about international politics.

Assistant Professor of Government at Dartmouth College, Mr. Baldwin teaches coursesin International Politics and in UnitedNations and World Government.