Agencies

Reviewed by Vladimir Matveyev in International Relations, Volume XIII, No 5, August 1997 -

Towards the end of this book the authors remark that '... the essential core of international organisation is not the various administrative buildings in New York, Brussels, Geneva and elsewhere which represent the relevant institution in the public mind, but the rules, regulations and agreed procedures for which the institutions have assumed responsibility. In this sense the main thrust of the international organisation is the development of "international regimes": sets of rules which aim to regulate some specific activity of international interest'. This is, perhaps, the principal feature of the authors' approach to the problem of the unprecedented growth of international organizations throughout the twentieth century. In other words, they are more interested in analysing their place and role in the international system than in describing the administrative and legal aspects of international diplomacy. Yet, they do not completely ignore the latter. Their brief but accurate accounts of the activities of all the Secretary-Generals in the history of the United Nations are clever and authoritative. Above all, they foresaw that Boutros Boutros-Ghali would not be re-elected and they give their reasoning for this. Mentioning, in particular, that Boutros-Ghali was especially active and proficient in developing and implementing machinery for resolving conflicts (e.g. setting up 'interim offices' in a number of former Soviet republics), the authors point out that he was also trying to extend his authority beyond the limits provided for by the UN Charter. Consequently, he came into conflict with the Security Council.
While the number of international organizations has grown markedly, so too have the differences between them. They come in all shapes and forms: governmental and non-governmental, global and regional, military and economic, large and small, long-lived and brief. The authors' focus of attention, however, is on intergovernmental organizations and they concentrate on the most significant of those. The major part of the book deals with only two organizations - the United Nations (with the League of Nations also considered as the UN's predecessor) as a global organization and the European Community (later the European Union) as the most unique and advanced regional organization. Besides these, the authors briefly consider the history and functions of three of the most important regional organizations outside Europe - the Organization of American States, the Organization of African Unity and ASEAN. The last chapter considers several international regimes: those concerned with international economic order, the Law of the Sea, nuclear non-proliferation and human rights protection.
In their selection of subjects, as well as in portraying the long and complicated history of both the United Nations and the European Union, the authors strike a proper balance between breadth in some spheres and detail in others. In accordance with their interpretation of international organizations as nothing other than instruments of states' diplomacy, the authors trace the development of the League of Nations and of the United Nations strictly within the framework of international relations. This allows them to devote special chapters to the formative period of the UN, the Cold War and the American-led UN (1945-1960), the Third World UN (1960-1980) and lastly, the UN in Crisis and its Rejuvenation (1980-1994). With hindsight, it might have been better if the final UN chapter had been divided into two separate sections.
The United Nations, with all its former and current weaknesses, and, not least, with its almost endemic budget deficit, nevertheless enjoys an almost magnetic appeal for dozens of new countries. Most of these emerged from the break-up of the Soviet Empire. Between 1990 and 1995, 27 additional states joined the UN, bringing the total membership to 185. At the same time an unparalleled number of humanitarian disorders occurred which virtually cried out for UN intervention and the number of peacekeepers rose from 10,000 in 1992 to 78,000 in 1994. It was, however, becoming increasingly difficult to find enough militarily efficient troops who were acceptable to the parties involved in the conflict. There are other problems confronting the United Nations at the end of the century which are no less troublesome and controversial and yet, the authors conclude, countries value and need the United Nations. 'Through it they can pursue their interests, conduct diplomacy, debate and cooperate - in achieving the purposes set out in Article 1 of the Charter. As such, it is likely to survive for a long time'.
The authors' account of the European Community is equally balanced and competent. Their emphasis on recent events, namely the Maastricht Treaty and the European Union, is justified by the very significance of these momentous developments in the process of European integration. The authors point particularly to two internal forces which were driving the Community towards further integration in the late 1980s - the Single European Act, 'with its inbuilt dynamic which encouraged further development, and the Single Market Programme, which highlighted the absence of (and therefore the need for) accompanying monetary and social measures'. External factors, that is the events in Eastern Europe since 1988, contributed substantially to the further development of the Community. A climate was created in which even the quite ambitious development of the EC did not seem extraordinary. The creation of the European Union is the result of that momentum.
Commenting on the further enlargement of the European Union, which the authors regard as 'almost certain', they suggest a number of possible drawbacks to the inclusion of countries whose political and economic structure is not, to put it mildly, compatible with the level of present EU members. 'Some of the new members may not share the supranational aspirations of the EU's founding fathers but may have a preference for intergovernmental cooperation or be driven by economic ambitions'.
In conclusion, the authors stress the uniqueness of the EU which, being a curious mix of the supernational and intergovernmental, is largely and will continue to remain outside the behavioural norms of other international organizations. 'Perhaps it is not an organization at all', sum up the authors, 'but really is a superstate in the making'.
The book, supplied with a detailed bibliography and a list of the major international organizations, serves a two-fold purpose: it belongs equally on the desk of students of international relations and diplomacy as well as on the bookshelves of researchers and practitioners of multinational diplomacy.
The authors are from Birmingham and Keele Universities. They certainly know the needs of their students. Moreover, in the Preface to the book they take the opportunity to thank their students for many helpful comments. I would venture to suggest that the book might also be useful for students of institutions of higher learning outside Britain, including my own.
VLADIMIR MATVEYEV END

As the editor, I can tell you that my goal in writing this book is to get students of international affairs to start looking systematically at what happens when international organizations like the UN or the EU decide to directly engage local non-governmental organizations in the Third World. This phenomenon, while widespread, has only just begun to penetrate the awareness of most experts in the field, and they often don't even know which words to use, let alone ideas, to describe and explain what is happening. I brought together a number of people with quite different perspectives on the issue and had them each write their own piece, after which we met together at a conference and compared notes. What you will find is that, although we use very different terminology, we all ended up saying many of the same things, that UN efforts to build up local organizations from the outside are analogous to other things in international relations, from neo-colonialism to balance of power politics to development aid projects. In other words, we already have the analytical tools to understand most of what is going on. We are also ina position to predict that these efforts to strengthen "civil society" within Third World countries is probably going to largely backfire unless it is done very carefully with great sensitivity to local political and social conditions. Enjoy the book!

The Colby Agency assigns Doug Cooper with an impossible job. He must protect tomboy Edwinna Harper of Meadowbrook, Maryland, who has recently been identified as a D'Martine heiress. That assignment seems relatively simple for the professional bodyguard until he meets the bodacious Eddi. However, his boss Victoria Colby also expects Doug to turn this small town sow into a first class lady, but she remains in shock to learn that the man who raised her is not her biological father, who died before she was born.

Doug rejects Eddi's assault on his heart keeping a professional demeanor though at night he wonders why he keeps dreaming of her. However, when someone decides to remove the heiress, Doug risks his life to insure history fails to repeat itself as he keeps his beloved safe. By doing so he enables her to crumble the barriers that kept his heart out of reach.

GUARDING THE HEIRESS is a solid romantic suspense that hooks the audience due to the antics of the lead couple, especially the hero. Doug tries everything to not fall in love, because it is unprofessional for his assignment, but Eddi overwhelms him even while she struggles with her own demons. Though lost little heiress found tales are frequent themes, Debra Webb insures her novel's freshness with a strong cast who makes for a fine tale.

Harriet Klausner

The back of the book says:
Could Jolie Randolph be losing her mind? That would explain why the typically focused bank executive had discovered inconsistencies in her usually meticulous work, totally forgotten a business trip and woken up naked in a stranger's bed! Jolie was coming undone and under investigation by the disarmingly handsome Simon Ruhl. But would he bed her or bok her?
Undercover Colby agent Simon Ruhl had his sights set on Jolie for more than one reason. She was suspected in a money laundering scheme and she was clearly being set up. Simon was duty bound to protect Jolie from an unknown threat while surreptitiously proving her innocence- all before he went totally insane with desire for her.

I finished this book in one night. It is not complicated or long. The whodunnit was fairly simple but I loved the struggle for the 2 main characters. They were obviously meant for each other but the case was getting in the way and I was curious to see how they would overcome that. A definite 4 stars.

- Best, Geoffrey, International Affairs, The Royal Institute of International Affairs, Number 4, October 1996. (Best Geoffrey, St Antony's College, Oxford). - Bettati Mario, Bibliographie critique, Revue générale de droit international public, juillet-septembre 1996.

The Director of Central Intelligence now serving refuses to accept the word "reform" and persists in the traditionalist view that only incremental change is needed within the U.S. Intelligence Community. This book, by a very respected team of private sector authorities with experience in the business of intelligence opens by noting that "informed opinion overwhelmingly holds that many of the important questions about the intelligence agencies have yet to be addressed." Their book, and mine, and the books coming out this year by Greg Treverton, the team of Bruce Berkowitz and Allan Goodman, and a group of ten authors including Mel Goodman and Bob White, are part of the responsible effort from the private sector to get the incoming President and the incoming Congress to finally accept their own responsibility for engaging these issues and legislating reform that will never come from within the U.S. Intelligence Community if it is left to its own devices and inclinations.

The subject of this book is, of course, the European Space Agency, but more specifically the Science Programme and its "Horizon 2000" long term plan. Both authors are former executives of ESA and were directly involved in the definition of this plan, ensuring accurate information. Roger Bonnet was actually the head of the Science Programme for more than 20 years, and resigned only in 2000.

The first part of the text provides a historical background of the early days of cooperation in space among European nations, with the rise and fall of ELDO, and the transformation of ESRO into ESA in 1975. The book then continues with a explanation of how the very peculiar ESA system works: mandatory and optional programmes, the fair return system, the 120% cost overrun limit, etc. Diagrams are provided to synthesize the information.

Then, several international endeavours are being described: Giotto, the International Solar Polar Mission (which lead to Ulysses) or the ISS. For each, the role of ESA is explained, demonstrating the growing confidence of the Agency as it deals with more and more complex projects. Finally, the new international context, since the fall of the Soviet block and the rise of the European Union, sets the stage for the future of Europe in space.

This book, which is quite short, nonetheless provides the reader with a good idea of what ESA is, and how different it is from national organizations, such as NASA. Indeed, anyone frustrated by the repetitive project cancellations on the American side will be quite surprised to learn that not one ESA science project has ever been cancelled once approved, in more than 20 years. And only a few projects have suffered from major cost overrun... and they all involved some cooperation with NASA. As a consequence, it is quite clear from this text that both authors, who have been directly involved with those projects, share some resentment towards the US way of doing things.

Overall a good book, accurate and well written, if a little bit too short.

If you want to improve you overall knowledge of ESA, I would recommend the very interesting book from a professional anthropologist: "Launching Europe" by S. Zabusky (1995, ISBN 0691029725). In just under 300 pages, you will get an intimate view of the inner workings of ESA. For a very complete history, in 600 pages, you should read "A New Force at a New Frontier" by K. Madders (1997, ISBN 0521570964). You can also order (for free!) the annual reports from 1994 directly from the ESA web site.

Moeran's book is a fly-on-the-wall telling of 12 months in the life of a large Japanese advertising agency. Written in the style of an academic research project, this book is nonetheless a revealing account of the machinations inside Japan's unique advertising industry. Dry, but a must-read for anyone involved in Japanese marketing or advertising.

The Kempei Tai were the Japanese Military Police, and were responsible for internal security (like the FBI or British MI-5). Spying was not considered dishonorable: an aristocrat could work as a laborer to carry out a mission (p.16). The Japanese learned that the apparent honesty of Westerners cloaked devious purposes and selfish aims (p.22). The 19th century brought threats to Japan from the imperialism of America, Britain, France, and Russia (p.31). Japan was able to resist and remained independent, built up an army and navy, and gathered intelligence from Western nations. They studied military factories and ship builders, and early on learned about inefficient production in the West (p.33). The Japanese government kept tight control over industries handling military contracts. Students were sent abroad to learn and gather intelligence legally (p.34). They also created secret societies to gather intelligence from these volunteers. One well-tried method to gather intelligence was to operate bordellos (blackmail, bribery). The Black Dragon Society was founded to oppose Russians in Manchuria. Japan signed a Treaty of Alliance with Britain in 1902.

The Russo-Japanese War began with the massive advance intelligence operations of Japan (p.52). Japan severed diplomatic relations and then attacked the Russian ships at Port Arthur (p.59). Some of their spies were trumped by Russian counter-intelligence (p.61). Japan later entered into an alliance with Britain, France, and Russia for WW I (p.92); they captured German colonies in the Pacific (p.95). Japan tried to save the Romanovs (p.112) and began conflicts with the Bolsheviks. American pressure on Britain put an end to the Anglo-Japanese Alliance (p.122). Now Japan turned to Germany, its only possible ally (p.123). Japan now began to move in on a divided China, like Western countries (p.129). Japan even sought to settle Jews in Manchuria (pp.145-6).

The "Thought Police" were created in 1927 as part of a national spying system. People were to report any suspicions about their neighbors (p.158). The Kempei Tai created a secret society to eliminate all parliamentary political parties and became powerful and feared (p.162). Espionage increased from the Panama Canal north into California in the 1930s. Barber shops were used to collect gossip from US naval personnel! Japan broke off negotiations with America on December 7, 1941. Page 213 tells of plain-language coded messages that used double meanings. A Japanese general could pose as a farm laborer, a captain as a female cook (p.216)! Japanese spies flooded Singapore and Malaysia by 1941. Japan lost the cryptographic war, the Battle of Midway, and WW II.

After 1945 the financial and business interests that supported groups like the Black Dragon Society were purged, along with the Communist Party (p.237). Japan spent its limited budget on a "global intelligence gathering system" that provided information on trade, commerce, markets, technological developments, and economic research (p.255). The Keidanren arbitrates the fluctuating interests and requirements of various businesses, formulates policies for the government, and collects information. Some call this "industrial espionage", or a willingness to learn. Pollution is a necessary evil in an industrialized society; it can be controlled but not eliminated (p.265). Rapid industrial progress cost dearly in pollution, particularly from lead (p.271). Consumer tastes are studied so exports remain competitive. Quality may be more important than increased productivity. Japan lowered their imports of Iranian oil years before 1979 (p.274). One Japanese company had good industrial relations in Britain (pp.277-8). The book ends around 1982 and does not cover the last twenty years.

Great insights on the KGB structure with interviews of 3 defectors, Major Stanislav Aleksandrovich Levchenko who escaped in a MiG, Colonel Rudolf Herrmann, and Canadian Professor Hugh George Hambleton. It was amazing to learn that there are 400,000 KGB agents and that the KGB spends so much money stealing information instead of developing it themselves. I plan on reading 4 of his other books that all got 5 stars.