elites in latin america by seymour martin lipset; aldo solari - sloan

7/29/2019 Elites in Latin America by Seymour Martin Lipset; Aldo Solari - Sloan

1/4

Southern Political Science Association

Elites in Latin America. by Seymour Martin Lipset; Aldo SolariReview by: John W. SloanThe Journal of Politics, Vol. 30, No. 1 (Feb., 1968), pp. 249-251Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Southern Political Science AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2128340 .

Accessed: 24/09/2012 03:21

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.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 [email protected].

.

Cambridge University Press and Southern Political Science Association are collaborating with JSTOR to

digitize, preserve and extend access to The Journal of Politics.

http://www.jstor.org
http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cuphttp://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=spsahttp://www.jstor.org/stable/2128340?origin=JSTOR-pdfhttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/stable/2128340?origin=JSTOR-pdfhttp://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=spsahttp://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup


2/4

1968] BOOKREvIEws 249Russian social habits, to a discussion f the internal chismsofRussiansocial democracy,o a majorconsiderationf theclandes-tinerelations etweenBolshevismnd ImperialGermany.Further,theauthor onspicuouslyailsto answer hequestion, osedin theverytitleof hiswork, f Bolshevism's evolutionaryr reactionaryquality.He seemsto opt forreaction, iting requentlyheabsorp-tionby theLeninists f certain eeminglymmutableharacteristicsof Russianpolitics.Nevertheless,t is curious hathe failsto ad-dresshimself irectlynd clearly o thematter.The work vinces slightly enunciatoryualityreminiscentfthe Cold War. The personalityssessments,specially f Lenin, resharply nflattering.he authorborders ponunscholarlyndigna-tion nhis review fBolshevik ealingswith mperialGermany.Heattributeshebasestmotives o Lenin'sdecision o acceptGermanaid in returningo Russia,and curiouslyalls his action "treason-able."The documentationnd bibliographyreuneven nd incomplete,and there re severalsurprisingmissions,ncluding he worksofTrotsky, lamentaz'sGermanMarxismand Russian Communism,and Fainsod'sInternationalocialismand the WorldWar. Therearealso someminorrritations. writer, . N. Chicherin,s identi-fiedonlyafter everalmajorreferenceso his obsevations n theRussian cene. Totsky s twice dentifieds "Bernstein."Thoughthework s somewhatlementarynd flawedn variousrespects,t is byno meansworthless.t willbe useful o many san introductiono thebeginningsftheBolshevik arty.

VERNONC. WARREN, JR.Austin eay State UniversityElites in LatinAmerica.Editedby SEYMOUR MARTIN LIPSET andALDO SOLARI. (New York: OxfordUniversityress,, 967. Pp. x,513. $9.50.)

This bookcomprises ifteenssays by social scientists rom heUnited Statesand Latin America; ts concern s withthe role ofelites n economic, ocial, and politicaldevelopment. Elites" arelooselydefineds "positions n societywhich re at thesummit fkey social structures;" hecomplexproblem f definingdevelop-ment" s omitted.Consequently,hefocus fthebook s blurred.


3/4

250 THE JOURNALOF POLITICS [Vol. 30Each essayist xamines n importantatinAmerican roup:the

middle class, the businessman, he politician,the military, hechurch, heintellectual,he workingman,the peasant,theteacher,and thestudent. Notablyabsent re the arge andownersnd theIndians.) These group tudies re generallyroad and areadmitted-ly based on limitedempirical vidence.Unfortunately,he bookhas no introductoryr concludinghapter,whichmighthave ex-plainedhow the elite-ledgroupspromote-or, moreprobably, n-hibit-development.SeymourMartinLipset,in his opening ssay, emphasizes heWeberian hesis hatvaluesplay a "major ndependentole" n aid-ing economicdevelopmentnd, using a revisedform f Parsons'spattern ariables, eshowshowthetraditional alues of LatinAmer-ica-ascription and particularism-havempededdevelopment.Six essaysexamine tudentsnd teachersn LatinAmerica,ndconcludethat the verystructure f education emains n obstacletodevelopment.Whiletechnologicalkills rebadlyneeded nbothagriculture nd industry, he educational ystems ontinue o bedominated y the traditional alues of classical education. LatinAmerica ags behind ll otherregions n theproportion f studentsmajoringn engineeringr the sciences; the systemproducestoomany awyers nd notenough echnicians.Robert cottpoints ut that toomanymembersf thechalleng-ing eliteshave adoptedthe rulinggroup'selitistnorms nd con-servativeendenciesndhavesold outtheir ollowers." his,too, sa discouragingonclusion.Scottbelievesthe real problem s "tofindways tounite hemany lites nd their ollowersnd toharnesstheir political activities for constructive ational integration."Neitherpartynor legislature or executive eemsable to performthis ggregatingunctionatisfactorily.ays Scott: "The executivestillhas wide powerwithinrather learlydefined oundaries, uthe mayriskhis position rossinghem."WhatScott fails to stress,however,s thata president as to crosstheboundaries et up bytraditionallites obring boutanysortof and, tax,or educationalreform.

IrvingHorowitz's xcellentssay argues hattheLatinAmericanmilitary as sufficientower"to prevent overnmentsnfavorableto itselffrom xercisinguthority,ut not enough o ruleforanylength ftime." Horowitz ejects heJohnJ. Johnsonhesis-nowsupported y the "hardliners" n the State Department-that he


4/4

1968] BOOK REVIEWS 251militaryan bothserveas a bulwark gainstcommunismnd pro-motedevelopment.He arguesthatpromotingmilitaryolutions oeconomic nd politicalproblemswill inevitablyincrease heferoc-ity,nottomentionheextent, fcivilconflictnLatinAmerica."This book is the first omparativeociological tudyof LatinAmericandshouldprovemostvaluable norientingutureesearch.

JOHNW. SLOANPurdueUniversityTheRise andFall ofKwameNkrumah: A StudyofPersonalRuleinAfrica.By HENRY L. BRETTON. (New York: Frederick . Prae-ger,1966. Pp. ix, 232. $5.95.)The Ghana Coup: 24th February,1966. By COLONEL A. A.AFRIFA. (New York: Humanities ress,1966. Pp. 144. $5.00.)

Withthe uccessfuloupd'etat gainstKwameNkrumahnFeb-ruary1966 and the resultant reeing f some records nd manytongues,tudents fAfrican oliticsookedforwardo gaining learinsightsntothemuch-malignednd oft-defendedegimewhichgov-ernedGhanaforthefirst ineyearsof its independence.Althoughdisappointingn severalrespects,hetwobooksunderreview-thefirst,ya political cientistwhotaught t theUniversityfGhanaand thesecond,by a leaderof themilitary-policeoup-do clarifyimportanteaturesfNkrumah's ule.ColonelAfrifa'short ook s particularlyaluablefor tsdiscus-sionoftheGhanaian rmy's rievancesn 1965and early 1966. Ac-cording ohim., krumah ad distrustedis regular rmy, enied tadequateammunitionnd equipment,nd developed highly aidspecial"Guard Regiment" s a counter-weight.et, when n No-vember,1965, Rhodesia'swhite-minorityovernmentnilaterallydeclaredthe colony'sindependence romBritain, Ghana's mainforceswereordered o preparefor"offensiveperationsn Rho-desia." This combinationf materialneglectand mortalrisk atNkrumah'shandshelpsto explainwhyno regular rmyunitop-posedthecoup.ColonelAfrifa'sriticismsf thedeposedregime's conomic ol-ies are persuasive.His description f the treatmentf traditionalchiefs uggests nother orcefulet of reasonsforpopulardisaffec-

elites in latin america by seymour martin lipset; aldo solari - sloan

Documents