Review

Reviewed Work(s): Politics among Nations: The Struggle for Power and Peace. by Hans J.
Morgenthau
Review by: Norman J. Padelford
Source: Political Science Quarterly, Vol. 64, No. 2 (Jun., 1949), pp. 290-292
Published by: Oxford University Press
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/2144235
Accessed: 14-08-2023 13:50 +00:00

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide
range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and
facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at
https://about.jstor.org/terms

Oxford University Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access
to Political Science Quarterly

This content downloaded from 143.106.58.38 on Mon, 14 Aug 2023 13:50:12 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
290 POLITICAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY [VOL. LXIV

Politics among Nations: The Struggle for Pow

HANS J. MORGENTHAU. New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1948.-
xvi, 489, xix pp. Trade, $5.50; Text, $4.25.

To the list of works available for college courses on contemporary

world politics Professor Morgenthau of Chicago has added an original,
thought-provoking volume which endeavors to explain international
relationships in terms of power politics.
The author believes that foreign policies and international actions
being political in nature are universally governed by considerations
of power. He has elaborated the detailed workings of power politics
and reduced the subject to a logical system. In so doing he has gone
a step farther than other text writers in providing a theory around
which to hinge the study of international relations.
The general plan of the book is first to identify the struggle for
power and outline some of the realms in which it operates, second to
delineate the elements of national power, third to explore various
limitations of power, and finally to examine the methods by which
nations have sought and may seek to preserve peace.
The essential elements of national power are catalogued, and a
section on the " Evaluation of National Power " points to many ques-
tions, difficulties and errors which arise in trying to equate the power
of different states. Unfortunately this analysis ends without giving
a comprehensive picture of the power line-up as it exists in today's
conflict.
The author explores various devices by which the dangers of " total
war waged by total populations for total stakes " may avert total
conquest or world destruction. These he classifies as (1) " Peace
through Limitation ", by disarmament, security, judicial settlement,
peaceful change, and "international government " (Holy Alliance,
League of Nations, and United Nations); (2) " Peace through Trans-
formation ": approach to the world state by domestic peace, con-
quest, confederation, or by the cultural-functional organization
approach; (3) " Peace through Accomodation ", by the media of
compromise and diplomacy. In the end he concludes that neither
the balance of power-the " normative limitations " of international
law, ethics, morality or public opinion-nor the United Nations, nor
the ideal of world government holds real hope for us today. The
balance of power he regards as a crude and unreliable method of
limiting the aspirations for power", ineffective in a day when states
are deliberately seeking world dominion and society is confronted by
the present characteristics of total war. Admitting the need of an

This content downloaded from 143.106.58.38 on Mon, 14 Aug 2023 13:50:12 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 No. 2] REVIEWS 291

ultimate ideal of international life Professor Morgenthau has only

" the techniques of persiuasion, negotiation and pressure, which are
the traditional instruments" of the old diplomacy as the basis on
which men of good will can join in attaining such an end. Some
will be inspired to try this again. Others may exploit this, as they
always have, in attempts to gain world domination. Others will
throw up their hands or resign themselves to destruction.
Although the author states that he covers " the traditional sub-
ject matter of courses in international relations ", with special em-
phasis, numerous topics which customarily are or should be included
in introductory courses on international relations are either omitted
or treated in such a narrow frame of reference that the student comes
out without a full appreciation of the breadth and complexity of mod-
ern international relations. For example, no broad panorama of the
historical development of international relations is given. Ideologies
are treated in the context of making participation in power politics
psychologically and morally acceptable to the masses. The descrip-
tion of nationalism is deplorably brief, lacking in historical perspective,
and incomplete in analysis of the characteristics and methods of its
propagation. The formation of national foreign policy is not treated.
No comprehensive account is given of the subject matter of interna-
tional law. The United Nations is treated in such a specialized man-
ner that classes will gain little appreciation of the extent, character, or
constructive nature of U.N. activities in the economic, social, humani-
tarian, trusteeship or technological fields. Very few of the situations
which have come before the United Nations are analyzed. There is no
general description of the functioning of international bodies. Region-
alism is dealt with only as an ideology. The field of international eco-
nomic relations is not touched. Finally, one must add that the role
of personalities in international affairs is largely crowded out in the
process of reducing international politics to a logical system.
This recital of omissions is not intended as a disparagement of what
Professor Morgenthau has written. He has produced a distinctive
contribution to the literature of international relations. The above-
mentioned omissions are noted rather by way of hope that this pio-
neering effort may be strengthened and matured to meet more fully
the needs of teachers and students.
In sum, Politics among Nations in its present form impresses this
reviewer as being more of an essay than a textbook for the introduc-
tory course in international relations. It will afford an excellent
basis for discussion in any class. It is a valuable plotting out of the
subject matter of power politics. It gives international relations

This content downloaded from 143.106.58.38 on Mon, 14 Aug 2023 13:50:12 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
292 POLITICAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY [VOL. LXIV

a focus which it has lacked in many other books. It can be profitably

used with students who have a broad background of knowledge con-
cerning contemporary world affairs, international law, foreign policy,
international organization and economics.
NORMAN J. PADELFORD
MASSACHUSETrS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

The Army Air Forces in World War II. Vol I: Plans and Early
Operations, January 1939 to August 1942. Edited by WESLEY
FRANK CRAVEN and JAMES L. CATE. Chicago, The University of
Chicago Press, 1948.-xxxi, 788 pp. $5.00.

The Procurement and Training of Ground Combat Troops. Vol.

II of The Army Ground Forces. The United States Army in World
War II. By ROBERT R. PALMER, BELL I. WILEY, and WILLIAM R.
KEAST. Published by the Historical Division, Department of the
Army, 1948. Washington, United States Government Printing
Office, 1948.-xi, 696 pp. $4.50.

Volume I of The Army Air Forces in World War II is the first of

seven projected volumes to be puiblished as the official history of the
Army Air Forces during the war. Five of the seven volumes are to
deal with combat operations. The sixth volume is to deal with the
procurement of aircraft and the training of air personnel; the final
volume will cover all of the service activities needed to maintain air
combat operations.
The Procurement and Training of Ground Combat Troops is the
second volume published by the Historical Division of the Depart-
ment of the Army and is again a volume on the Army Ground Forces.
While the present plans of the Army Historical Division call for
many more volumes than those in the official Air Forces history, the
scope is also much larger. In addition to a history of the Army
Ground Forces, there will be a number of volumes published on the
Army Service Forces, the third great command in the Army during
World War II, as well as volumes about Army top command and
overseas operations in various parts of the world.
Both volumes give continued promise that the official historical
work of the Armed Forces will maintain a high level of achievement.
Even if the historian is permitted free access to materials and an
opportunity to express his convictions based upon those materials re-
gardless of sensitive toes, the problem is still ever present of the
readers to whom the historian addresses his writing. The problem
is well illustrated by these two volumes. It is very doubtful indeed

This content downloaded from 143.106.58.38 on Mon, 14 Aug 2023 13:50:12 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms