The Ways of Power: Pattern and Meaning in World Politics (review)

Abstract

BOOK REVIEWS 211 decreasing confidence in the South African economy—as indicated by talk in 1989 that some American banks might not roll over South Africa's debt—frightened Pretoria into fundamental change. The leverage South Africa demonstrated over its creditors in 1985, however, indicates that this argument might be overstated. Questions regarding de Klerk's motivations thus remain unanswered. So, too, do questions concerning the accuracy of Lewis' predictions about the future of the South African economy. He anticipates a "post-apartheid" dividend of $2 billion a year resulting from the elimination of sanctions, new capital inflows, and reductions in government spending on strategic investment, the military and security establishment, and the bloated apartheid bureaucracy. An expanding economy, Lewis rightly observes, will be necessary to provide a future government with the necessary resources to redistribute wealth to the black majority while preventing the mass emigration of skilled whites. Lewis' optimism is not wholly unrealistic, and is shared to some extent, by both Nelson Mandela and F.W. de Klerk. As Lewis points out, such optimism is necessary if meaningful political discourse is to occur. Whether this optimism will ultimately be justified remains to be seen. Although it will likely prove to be of primarily historical interest, Lewis' analysis ofsanctions exposes many myths and misconceptions about their impact and effectiveness. The more current value of The Economics ofApartheid is its useful, if somewhat dated, overview of many of the economic factors that will ultimately shape the future economy of South Africa. Although Lewis' sketch of what that economy might look like is necessarily speculative, it does provide an intriguing starting point for forecasts about South Africa's economic future that will doubtless proliferate in the near future. The Ways of Power: Pattern and Meaning in World Politics. By George Liska. Oxford: Basil Blackwell Ltd, 1990. 511 pp. $39.95/Hardcover. Reviewed by Sue Oldenberg, MA., SAIS. In The Ways ofPower—Pattern and Meaning in World Politics, noted historian and international relations theorist George Liska has sought to "meld fragments scattered in (his) earlier work(s) into a final summation" of his reflections upon the essential nature of the international body politic. In so doing, he has produced a volume that will provide his fellow scholars with considerable 'food for thought' and an intellectual challenge. The originality of Professor Liska's observations, historical perspective, and theorizing on historical evolution and progress will be readily apparent to even the casual student of international politics. So will the complexity and multi-disciplinary richness of his reasoning. Students of Hegel, Thucydides, Michelet and the Greek tragedians will find in Liska's writings creative usage ofdialectical reasoning, an astute understanding and appreciation of Greek thought, and passages bordering on the lyrical in which nations are personified and the historical process is viewed as a manifestation of biological and physical laws. The geographer, meanwhile, will find that few historians and present-day theoreticians are so keenly aware of the 212 SAISREVIEW geographical determinants of national 'destín/. Fewer writers still will have the grasp of history necessary to assume the historical perspective Professor Liska has chosen as his trademark—one spanning the entire course of human history and sparing no geographic region from review. The Ways ofPower—Pattern and Meaning in World Politics could justifiably be labeled a masterwork of political and historical thought as well as the summation of Liska's years of reading, observation, and reflection. It is an extremely difficult book to read, however, and an even more difficult one to evaluate for theoretical soundness and historical accuracy. Therein lies the source of the perhaps trivial criticisms of style which follow. Were this reviewer given the chance to edit Liska's work before publication, I would have suggested first and foremost that he make The Ways ofPower more easily accessible to his readers. Even the serious scholar will likely find his patience tested and his concentration strained in the effort to grasp the subtleties ofLiska's reasoning and the complexity ofhis syntax. Liska's sentences are much longer than is the modern norm. Each painstakingly written phrase contains numerous important ideas. Too often faulty referents and false analogies mar the brilliance ofhis underlying...