Elites in Latin America. by Seymour Martin Lipset; Aldo Solari; The Politics of Conformity in Latin America.

by Claudio Veliz Review by: Christian Anglade International Affairs (Royal Institute of International Affairs 1944-), Vol. 44, No. 2 (Apr., 1968), pp. 399-400 Published by: Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the Royal Institute of International Affairs Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2613210 . Accessed: 24/09/2012 03:16
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NORTH AMERICA

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economies. Canadian readers will find reassuring of their interlocked pursued from policy traditionally confirmation of the good-neighbour to Canada's own problems. and a typically attitude generous Washington,
GORDONWINTER. Congress and Foreign Policy-Making.A Study in LegislativeInfluenceand Initiative. Rev. ed. By JamesA. Robinson. Homewood,Illinois: Dorsey Press. 1967. 254 pp. Bibliog. Index. (The Dorsey Series in PoliticalScience. Ed.: NortonE. Long.) $3.50. This is thesecondeditionof a workfirst in 1962.1 The revision published mostly involvesthe chapterson 'Communications betweenCongressand the Departmentof State' and 'Congress, ForeignPolicy and the Future'. There is also a useful 12-pageadditionalbibliography on the years 1962-66. However,it is strange to see no discussion of the role of Congressin the development of the Vietnamwar following the resolution of August1964,and, in particular, of the haplesspartplayedby the Senate ForeignRelationsCommittee underFulbright. This is an important omission in whatin manyotherrespects is a valuable book. Conductof AmericanDiplomacy. 3rd ed. By Elmer Plischke. Princeton, N.J., Toronto, London: Van Nostrand. 1967. 677 pp. Bibliog. Index. (Van 72s. Nostrand Political Science Series. Ed.: FranklinL. Burdette.) Thirdeditionof a now well-established university of whichthe second textbook, edition was reviewedin International Affairs, April 1962, pp. 288-289. The has been expanded,and the statistical bibliography tables in the textand in the appendicesbrought up to date; but the only major change is the additionof a somewhat elementary glossaryof diplomatic terms.

LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN MartinLipsetand Aldo Solari. Elitesin Latin America. Ed. by Seymour Press. 1967. 531 pp. Index. New York,London: OxfordUniversity 68s. Paperback:19s. 6d. in Latin America. Ed. by Claudio Veliz. The Politics of Conformity Pressfor the Royal London,New York,Toronto:OxfordUniversity 1967. 291 pp. Index. 45s. of International Institute Affairs. titles would their in scope,although similar THESE two books are basically of the with theconventional terminology to anyone familiar seemto indicate opposed,if complementary, social sciencesthat theydeal with directly while elitesas theagentsof change, regards subjects.Thus,one habitually would be followedby thosegroupsdirectly the 'politics of conformity' opposedto change. However,both books deal withsuch subjectsas the the church, students, peasantsand the middleclasses,and look military, and bothbooks come to the conclusion role in the social process, at their e'lites are, at theirbest,agentsof slightreform thatthe Latin American vehicles thanthe dynamic for changethatthey the systems, rather within thisidea have been supposedto be. But even if it is not new in itself, one of the main in the past,and it is certainly has not been emphasised thattheyhave raised this point and of thesetwo contributions interests dealt withit systematically. advantageof adoptingand The first of thesebooks has the distinct
1 Originally in International reviewed Afairs, January1963, p. 153. (Same publishers.)

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maintaining throughouta cross-national approach, which is very useful for comparative purposes. It focuses particularlyon the goals and values of elite groups, and on the influenceof the educational systemin teaching and spreading attitudes towards achievement and change. It is very detailed, with a great wealth of useful footnotes. Most of the articles collected by Messrs. Lipset and Solari have the advantage of undoubted scholarship and clarity, and there is no doubt that they representa considerable source of informationfor students in that, in a work of such somewhat unfortunate the field. It is nevertheless broad scope, a certain amount of lingeringindecision and ambiguityabout the definitionof certain concepts is never completely dispelled, when a of some of the basic discussion or questioningof conventionaldefinitions conceptual notions (like 'elite' itself)would have been useful, and would perhaps have allowed the editors to reduce somewhat the dimensions of the overall unity which the the study,while at the same time reinforcing cross-nationalapproach already gives it. One could also have wished for a more equitable distributionof hypothesesand empirical data; the two are nicely balanced in the chaptersin the section on education, one of the most positive featuresof the book. But this criticismmust not be pushed too far. The problem of the lack of reliable data and, therefore,of hypotheseswhich have not yet been put to the test, is one of the major problems which social and political scientistsworking on Latin America have to face. The book edited by Claudio V6liz is advertised as 'the companion volume to Obstacles to Change in Latini America',' which edited in 1965, and which representeda major contributionin the field in content, of Latin American social sciences. Even if it is quite different the idea behind this new volume is basically the same, since it focuses on the social groups which act as obstacles to change. The emphasis here is on the role of the state and of the middle classes in supporting specifically ' the expansion and centralization of a vertical structure that already existed'2 instead of favouring a move towards structuralchange. This verticalityseems to be the root cause of the conformitywhich seems to make all social groups seek their way ahead within the system itself, normally individually,while at the same time it conceals from those in it mightbe to tryto overthrow the systemthat an awareness whose interests of their potential strengthas a group or class might enable them to mobilise for effectiveaction. to compare it with its older brother, On the whole, even if it is difficult this book does none the less contain a valuable series of studies which comparisons with the other work dealt with in provide most interesting
this review. CHRISTIAN ANGLADE.

The Inter-AmericanSystem: Its Development and Strengthening.InterAmerican Instituteof InternationalLegal Studies. Explanatory note by F. V. Garcia-Amador. Dobbs Ferry, New York: Oceana. 1966. 530 pp. Bibliog. $12.50. THIS should prove a most useful referencework for studentsof the interAmerican system. After a brief historicalbackground,the book is divided
2

1 Samepublishers.

and SocialStructures ', p. 41. Richard Adams: 'PoliticalPower