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Is Socialism Doomed?: The Meaning of Mitterrand by Daniel SingerReview by: Fritz SternForeign Affairs, Vol. 67, No. 1 (Fall, 1988), p. 191Published by: Council on Foreign RelationsStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20043724 .
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RECENT BOOKS 191
JAHRBUCH DER EUROP?ISCHEN INTEGRATION 1986/87. Edited
by Werner Weidenfeld and Wolfgang Wessels. Bonn: Institute f?r Euro
p?ische Politik/Europa Union Verlag, 1987, 533 pp. DM35. A comprehensive and, in parts, critical survey of what happened during
1986-87 in the various institutions of the EEC. A Baedeker to Brussels'
Europe, prepared by a group of competent experts, most of them German, with a searching analysis by Werner Weidenfeld, one of the editors and a
leading German political scientist. He, too, reflects on the growing estrange ment between the U.S. and Western Europe and on the suddenly reap
pearing dream?primarily in Germany where the dream first appeared? of a Mitteleuropa, presumably a neutralized zone dominated by Germans;
this, too, is part of the lure of Gorbachev's appeal to the European "common
house." A superior reference work.
IS SOCIALISM DOOMED?: THE MEANING OF MITTERRAND. By Daniel Singer. New York: Oxford, 1988, 324 pp. $24.95.
A harsh, well-written, if at times racy, criticism of Mitterrand's abandon ment of progressive, truly socialist policies and his reaching out for centrist
support. Singer attacks the gap between socialist promise and capitalist
performance and pleads for the reinvention of a true socialism aiming still at an egalitarian and classless society. Like John Palmer, Singer wonders?
hopefully?whether "the countries of Western Europe . . . can forge a
radical alternative [to the American model and American pressure] likely to act as a magnet for the other half of Europe, ultimately including the
Soviet Union."
GERMANY AND THE GERMANS: AN ANATOMY OF SOCIETY TODAY. By John Ardagh. New York: Harper & Row, 1987, 478 pp. $24.95
A British francophile, author of several books on France, discovers
today's two Germanies. A journalistic, anecdotal account, with emphasis on
society and culture, not politics. A broad but superficial survey, weak on
the past, strong on local color, regional differences, opinion polls and
prevailing popular attitudes. A host of topics ranging from Christmas celebrations and industrial innovation in West Germany to the nationalist
promotion of sports in East Germany. Ardagh believes that the Federal
Republic is less lively but more democratic than Germany in earlier times: conventional wisdom, amiably and attractively illuminated by telling ex
amples and statistics.
"CONTAINMENT" IM WANDEL. By Martin Beglinger. Stuttgart: Stei
ner, 1988, 341 pp. DM58. A Zurich doctoral dissertation examines the policies toward the Soviet
Union of the Eisenhower Administration, with particular emphasis on how anti-Soviet perceptions and assumptions shaped those policies. The author
argues that Eisenhower, though more conciliatory and less ideological than
John Foster Dulles, did not explore the possibilities that might have been
present after Stalin's death. A useful review of a still controversial era, based mostly on published sources.
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