Abstract
172 SAIS REVIEW even work to our advantage through such processes as the expansion of internal markets, growth offoreign trade, etc. The static global conception puts the United States at a disadvantage; by preventing the formation ofa new equilibrium, we exacerbate the condition ofdisequilibrium and make our position increasingly untenable (Nicaragua is a case in point). Even if we accept American intervention as a necessary consequence of the development of American capitalism, must we support anachronistic socio-political systems? Would not flexible policies within a global context be more to our mutual advantage? Girling's book sets an uneven pace: at times he is eloquent, as when he discusses counter-insurgency; at other times he is obscure and difficult to follow. Nevertheless, the book is well worth reading for its discussion of the many assumptions implicit in American intervention in the Third World. Mark C. Woodward American Dream, Global Nightmare. By Sandy Vogelgesang. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1980, 271 pp. During the last ten years, America's traditional human rights philosophy has received unprecedented attention in its foreign policy deliberations . American Dream, Global Nightmare presents U.S. human rights policy as a dilemma between the ideals ofnational policy and the harsh reality of global interdependence. Sandy Vogelgesang gives an enlightening analysis of the motives and support behind the policy, focusing on the contradictions and prevailing questions. Is it possible to solve the conflict between human rights and national security priorities , or will the former always be the "hapless handmaiden" ofthe latter and of"geopolitical calculations," as in the case ofIran under the Shah? Why was the international community so inept at preventing the genocide by Pol Pot's regime in Cambodia: Can nothing be done when a government formulates policy to destroy its own people? What are the costs to the American people of restricting trade because of human rights violations? The discussion focuses on the hardships ofindividuals in Cambodia, the Soviet Union, and El Salvador. These cases are then analyzed in terms of the three major components of U.S. policy: the "diplomacy" of human rights and its failure in Cambodia; the "politics" of human rights, in which Congress assumed a greater role after the indifference of Secretary of State Kissinger, and the Carter camp watched an advantageous campaign issue become an obstacle to policy; and the "economics " ofhuman rights, with basic needs offood and shelter dependent not on greater U.S. charity aid but on greater Third World development. BOOK REVIEWS 173 The challenge to U.S. policy is to deal effectively with the Catch-22 among the three elements. To restrict imports because ofhuman rights violations could not only be inflationary, but could also deter the development of the exporting country's economy, resulting in stricter political measures. To allow the entry ofthese imports, however, would be, in a diplomatic sense, to condone human rights violations. The success of human rights policy should not be expected in the short term, but over an extended period of time. In this context, it is useful to examine how human rights concerns have become an integral part of international law. The UN Charter, an early foundation of human rights law, has been followed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the European Convention on Human Rights, the international covenants of 1966, and the Helsinki Final Act, among others. Examined separately, each could be criticized for its generality, lack of signatories, etc. Together, however, these documents represent the progress ofinternational awareness ofhuman rights. Human rights policy, like law itself, must be viewed as a process. The success of U.S. policy, as Vogelgesang concludes, depends on the reexamination of assumed "national interests" from which contradictions arise. Such changes require time and a clear, consistent, though not necessarily forceful, voice from our national policymakers. Robert Russell Presidential Decisionmaking in Foreign Policy: The Effective Use of Information and Advice. By Alexander George. Boulder: Westview Press, 1980, 267 pp. In his most recent book, Alexander George has succeeded in bringing together diverse sources ofcross-disciplinary material and relating them to an important aspect ofdecisionmaking. By focusing on the task of "improving the quality of information analysis available to a president and his...
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