America's Strategy in World Politics. The United States and the Balance of Power.

by Nicholas
John Spykman
Review by: Hans Haas
Social Forces, Vol. 21, No. 1 (Oct., 1942 - May, 1943), pp. 112-113
Published by: Oxford University Press
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112 SOCIAL FORCES

training, and stages of life are all extensively political science. This step secured him an ad-
treated, with copious documentation in the actual vantage over most of his contemporaries in the
words of informants or in observed incident. The first place, and the effect of this advantage is
approach, however, is not psychological except in clearly visible in the treatment of regional and
the tangential sense that the author appears to political problems as presented in his book. In
have been keenly aware of persons; little or no addition to this, it must be recognized that his
attempt at psychological interpretation is made. utilization of the geopolitical method in approach-
This is the kind of book which can only be ing these problems has made his realistic and im-
written on the basis of long and intimate contact personal presentation unusually original and
with a people. Goodwin was in close contact with outstandingly instructive.
the Western Apache for a period of ten years. His The basic concept of the book is the doctrine
recent death at the age of 33 is a great loss to socialthat international relations, changing as they are,
science, as the present volume, his first major remain conditional upon preservation of a balance
publication, would doubtless have been followed of power which does not represent an equilibrium,
by many others. The book was edited and pub- but a safety margin in favor of the stronger state
lished posthumously by Fay-Cooper Cole, Fred or combination of states. How the struggle for
Eggan, Harry Hoijer, and Edward Spicer. achievement of such a balance is kept up, is dis-
JoHN GILLIN played to us formally in two sections dealing with
Duke University the United States and her power politics on one
side, and the battle for South America on the
AMERICA'S STRATEGY IN WORLD POLITICS. THE other. According to Professor Spykman's ar-
UNITED STATES AND THE BALANCE OF POWER. By rangement of the material and its evaluation,
Nicholas John Spykman. Maps by Richard Edes however, the book is composed of three parts: the
Harrison. New York: Harcourt,Brace and Com- past, the present, and the future after the defeat
pany, 1942. 500 pp. $3.75.
of our Allies in Europe and Asia.
America's Strategy in World Politics is political The first two parts are far above anything
geography, economic and military strategy, ap- written along this line up to this day. They
proached by means of the geopolitical method of represent the foundation for a new school of
investigation-a rare, almost unique occasion to thought in politics, designed for the benefit of a
test the scientific value of this comparatively new younger, wiser, and more rational generation.
method. The publicity given to the book has One may not agree with his selection of premises
conveyed the impression that it is a treatise on in the third part, but one is forced to admit that
geopolitics; such an assumption is incorrect. the reasoning followed on the basis of these
It can be said, however, that the author is an premises is logical. It is obvious that the possi-
outstanding geopolitician, besides being a first-rate, bility of our Allies' defeat by the German-Japanese
if not the best contemporarygeographer,historian, combination appeared to the author as a challenge,
and political strategist all in one. strong enough to create this volume. The conse-
To reconcile the above statements it must be quences of such a disaster-North America isolated
understood that geopolitics is not only an objective and permanently threatened, Latin America the
of study-and as such a discipline of the social objective of deadly competition between the Axis
sciences-but also a method of approach to other dominated world and the United States-are dealt
disciplines. As an objective of science, it is mere with very objectively and with earnest seriousness.
theory, the knowledge of which is an essential The author finally reaches the conclusion that, if
prerequisiteto the understandingof certain societal we have any chance at all to survive under such
phenomena. As a method, it combines factual conditions, it would only be through a well planned
knowledge with logical deduction and an innate economic (not political!) integration of hemisphere
ability of prognosis in order to evaluate and explain resources in accordance with the geopolitical
social, economic, or political problems and their potentialities of the different regions and their
potentialities. particular characteristics.
Professor Spykman has absorbed the theory in Professor Spykman could not have arrived at
geopolitics apparently long before he tackled the his conclusions without his profound command
broader, more competitive field of geography or of geopolitical methods in investigation; yet, to

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 LIBRARY AND WORKSHOP
call him only a geopolitician would mean under-
rating his scholarly versatility. Geopolitics is
scientific eye training for the observation of politi-
cal potentialities. He takes a region, a map, a
few vital statistics, and then, like an expert
diagnostician, taps with sensitive fingers on,
around, above, and beneath it, feels its topographi-
cal, geophysical, or geological particularities,
discovers its potentialities or deficiencies in natural
resources, population structure, and war potential,
and finally draws his cogent conclusions as to the
bearing of these findings on the future attitude of
man in relation to this region.
There are only a few weaknesses in the whole
volume which deserve attention. One is his
tendency to repeat descriptive items over and over
again, another his liking for geographic analogies
as an over-simplifiedmeans of illustration, which is
misleading to the lay-reader who is often unable to
identify geographic synonyms.
Finally, there is the author's complete disregard
of the role of the personality in world politics.
People such as Simon Bolivar, Cordell Hull, or the
two Roosevelts, projected against the impersonal
and immovable background of geography and
political strategy, appear like so many empty coat-
hangers in the ante-room of history. However, in
the social as in the political domain there is no
constructive human progress without individual
planning, without the creative influence of the
personality. To matter-of-fact-man Spykman,
war potentials and geopolitical realities create the
pattern which man has to follow. Said the Ger-
man geopolitician Erich Obst, long before Hitler
came to power: "At the personality, which will
always exert a decisive influence on politics, econ-
omy, and culture, ends the chance Qf scientific
investigation."
HANS HAAs
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
BELOW THE POTOMAC. By VirginiusDabney. New
York: D. Appleton-Century Company, 1942.
$3.00.
When this book was announced by the publish-
ers, a semi-professional Southerner exclaimed:
"Why don't they let the South alone? There are
too many books on the South already."
The gentleman who raised this question seemed
to forget the increasingly impressive fact that the
South more than any other section of the United
States has been turning the searchlight upon itself,
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113
and apparently to good advantage, because more
and more Southerners have in recent years been
concerned about the distinctive economic, social,
and political problems in their region.
Mr. Dabney has written a very interesting book
about the new South. And it is a very helpful
book, because it is so realistic. He makes clear
that the sleepy ol' South is not merely sleepy nor
is it today exclusively a region of romance. He
does not omit present-day flaws in Southern civili-
zation, but discusses in a very frank fashion the
stubborn obstacles to a balanced civilization and
progress: the economic conditions, the race issue,
"Barriers to the Ballot," low standards of educa-
tion which, however, are slowly being raised, polit-
ical chicanery and "mountebankery" and other
afflictions. Here one may find also discussions of
freedom of speech, of assembly, of religion, of
collective bargaining for labor, equality before the
law and other conditions which have shown
improvement during the past decade or so.
Of special interest in his discussion of higher
education, in "In Groves of Academe," a chapter
which calls to mind Wilson Gee's ResearchBarriers
in the South (the Century Company, 1932), and
Edwin Embree's "In Order of Their Eminence"
(The Atlantic Monthly, June, 1935). Progress in
higher education in the South is apparent between
the discussions by Gee and Embree and the volume
by Dabney, and in this fact is hope.
Unusually interesting also are two other chap-
ters: "The South that Never Was," and "The
South and the Future." The first chapter dis-
proves some old beliefs, and the final chapter
discusses the future which awaits the building of
a "grander civilization" than the story books tell
about, provided the tasks of building it are properly
faced up to by educators, statesmen, editors, busi-
nessmen, labor leaders, agriculturists, and all
others who would employ imagination and vision,
a lot of hard work, resourcefulness,and real daring.
The South must solve its own problems. Although
he does not say so, clearly is it implied that too
long has the South been a fertile field for fantastic
if fervid missionary zeal in a variety of fields.
Invasions under whatever guise are not longer
needed for the balanced development of the
Southern States. Dabney concludes his volume:
"The South which is to be must have the kinetic
force to build for the future, and the leisure to
enjoy the edifice, after it is done; it must be a
wholly American South, a South of liberty and