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῏῎῎ῒ ῏ῐ ῌ῍῍ BOOK REVIEW ‘Akira Iriye, Global Community : the Role of International Organizations in the Making of the Contemporary World, University of California Press, Berkeley, ,**. (Paperback). Pp. ix, ῏ῑῒ, Index.’ Taisaku IKESHIMA Faculty of Contemporary Social Studies, Department of Social Systems Studies This book is based on the Thomas Jeffe- ganizations but rather ‘to understand their rson Memorial Lecture at the University of role in the making of the world today’ (p. ix). California, Berkeley, in the spring of ,***. In this sense, his study in this volume seems Akira Iriye, who is one of the most famous to have been considerably successful, al- Japanese academia based in the United though the space in this book may have States, teaches history as Charles Warren hindered the author from fully analyzing Professor of American History at Harvard the multiῌfaceted role of these international University. This volume is among his recent organizations mentioned above. works on globalization, globalism, and inter- For Iriye, three principal reasons justify nationalism such as Cultural International- his approach ; the steady growth of the in- ism and World Order (+331), The Globalization ternational organizations in number and in of America (+33-), and China and Japan in the the scope and variety of activities since the Global Setting (+33,). late nineteenth century ; disregard of this The aim of the author is ‘to trace the phenomenon by most writings on modern historical evolution of international organi- world affairs ; and ‘reconceptualization’ of zations, non- modern world history with a fresh perspec- governmental, since the nineteenth century, tive on the evolution of international rela- in particular during the last fifty years, and tions (p. +). Thus, he focuses on the following to show how they have contributed to the six types of organizations in order not to be making of the contemporary world’ (p. vii). comprehensive but to be illustrative ; those He tried not to catalogue international or- dealing with humanitarian relief, cultural both governmental and exchange, peace and disarmament, develop‘Akira Iriye, Global Community : the Role of International Organizations in the Making of the Contemporary World, University of California Press, Berkeley, ,**. (Paperback). Pp. ix, ῏ῑῒ, Index.’ mental assistance, human rights, and environmentalism. His intention is to explore possibilities for world order rather than anarchy, and his point of view is that the ma- ῌ῍῎ ῐ῏῏ῒ ῐῑ jority of the international organizations ‘are focuses on no less important role of non- by definition oriented toward seeking inter- governmental organizations in the fields of national cultural order, cooperation, and inter- dependence’ (p. /). exchange, humanitarian relief, peace, human rights and environmentalism. Against this background, he seeks to In Chapter -, Iriye projects a distinct clarify the relationship between internation- point of view as to the existence of a global al organizations and globalization, so that community in the +3/*s made up of interna- this study will serve to spell out the ‘global tional organizations ‘beyond the Cold War’, community’, which, for him, suggests ‘the as the title of the chapter suggests. In the building of transnational networks that are field of developmental assistance, in particu- based upon a global consciousness, the idea lar, exchanges between developed and dev- that there is a wider world over and above eloping nations were, according to the separate states and national societies, and author, enhanced in parallel with the educa- that individuals and groups, no matter tional and cultural exchanges throughout where they are, share certain interests and the world even in the intensification of the concerns in that wider world’ (p. 2). Cold War. This is, as he argues, because in- Chapter + examines the interaction of ternational organizations ‘were offering intergovernmental and international non- hope’, goodwill and global interdependence governmental organizations with each other despite the fact that the bipolar conflicts and and with the existing states in the process power politics were creating an atmosphere transforming the nature of international re- of fear and insecurity (p. 3.). lations. Iriye maintains that international- Chapter . relates to the +30*s when the ism, which came into existence in as early as world saw the Cuban missile crisis, the Viet- nineteenth century, ‘was being fostered thr- nam War, and the ChineseῌSoviet rift. Iriye ough international organizations working explains that more than ever before, various cooperatively among themselves and with parts of the globe were becoming ‘inter- state agencies’ (p. ,-). Moreover, ‘the interna- connected’ through the growing number of tional organizations represented the con- international nongovernmental organiza- science of the world’ and ‘global conscious- tions. For him, nonstate networks in many ness was kept alive’ (p. -0) in spite of the fields were being established even under the wars and international conflicts during continuing intensity of Cold War. Moreover, +3-*s. the ‘mushrooming’ of the developmentῌori- In Chapter ,, the author illustrates his ented nongovernmental organizations, par- strong belief in the continuous development ticularly, was a distinctive feature of inter- of the process of ‘global interconnectedness’ national relations during this period (p. +*2). (p. .*) even during the Cold War. Moreover, Behind the front scene of the Cold War, as he the awareness of global interconnectedness maintains, the consciousness of a global could be mobilized to provide the basis for community had been certainly generated by postwar internationalism. While he admits way of intergovernmental and nongov- the significance of the role and function of ernmental organizations. the United Nations since its birth, he rather In Chapter /, the author argues, through ‘Akira Iriye, Global Community : the Role of International Organizations in the Making of the Contemporary World, University of California Press, Berkeley, ,**. (Paperback). Pp. ix, ῏ῐῑ, Index.’ ῌ῍῎ the examination of the activities of inter- led to the emergence of a global community governmental and international nongov- by means of networks of communication ernmental organizations, that ‘these organi- through intergovernmental and internation- zations have played a decisive role ῌ in some al nongovernmental organizations, whose instances even more so than the sovereign ‘only weapons are ideas, a sense of commit- states ῌ in the global transformation since ment, and voluntary service’ (p. +3-). the +31*s’ (p. +,3). During this decade, as he In the concluding chapter, Iriye ad- observes, international relations entered a dresses the direction and desirability of the new epoch when the solution of problems phenomenon of globalization. He attributes ‘outside of world peace and arms control’ (p. the accelerating force of globalization in the +-.) came to attract the attention of people ; twentieth century to the growth in number i. e., in the fields of human rights, humanitar- and scope of international organizations, ian relief, developmental assistance, en- stating that ‘underneath the geopolitical rea- vironmental protection, and cultural ex- lities defined by sovereign states, the centu- change. Thus, he concludes that the chal- ry witnessed a steady growth of another lenge of multiculturalism, or cultural diver- reality ῌ the global (and globalizing) ac- sity, during this period, promoted the neces- tivities by international organizations’ (p. sity of crossῌnational and crossῌcultural ex- ,*,). In particular, nongovernmental organi- change and communication especially by zations, he suggests, have led the way to ‘a means of intergovernmental and interna- human community that would consist of tional nongovernmental organizations (pp. various complementing organizations shar- +//ῌ+/0). ing the same concerns and seeking to solve Chapter 0 deals with the generation of a greater global consciousness during the them through cooperative endeavors’ (p. ,*3). +32*s and the +33*s. The emergence of such Of the many evocative implications of consciousness, as he states, accelerated the Global Community for debates about interna- sudden and quick rise of international non- tional relations, it is worthwhile to highlight governmental organizations, in particular, briefly the role of nongovernmental organi- against the background of the ‘attentionῌ zations, i. e., NGOs, the term of which he, grabbing interstate dramas’ of interpower consciously or unconsciously, does not at all rivalries (p. +0*) before and in the postῌCold use in the main text except for references in War era. In addition, he maintains that it is the endnotes of the volume. Doubtless, as not state governments but ‘private initi- Iriye observes, NGOs have been playing a atives’ (p. +01) taken principally by non- significant and influential role in various governmental organizations that, towards fields of contemporary international affairs. the end of the century, became more urgent However, it has not been established that and imperative for carrying out important they have been successful in striving to- programs and projects which needed finan- wards the achievement of real and genuine cial and transnational support. In his opin- globalization with a view to their own pur- ion, the complex interconnectedness among poses and goals. The consequences should different strands of globalization evidently be judged upon the definition and perspec- ῌ῍῎ ῐ῏῏ῒ ῐῑ tive of the term, ‘global community’, as he balization, including Manfred B. Steger’s admits. It may be therefore said that, in the Globalization : A Very Short Introduction course of the analysis of the historical devel- (,**-) and Martin Wolf’s Why Globalization opment of NGOs, he could have described Works (,**.), to name but a few. This book and shown the precise and desirable image under review, with plenty of examples based of globalization of his own, regardless of his on widely researched sources, must be initial modest purpose of this rather com- among those recommendable ones not only pact research. Whether or not NGOs have for the experts in the field of international originally intended to bring about the cur- relations and other related international stu- rent situation, which the author positively dies but also for historians, sociologists, and appreciates in the book, still seems to be anthropologists, whose interest will also be open to further argument. in the sphere of consciousness of people to- Nowadays, there are numerous remarkably concise but instructive studies on glo- wards globalization and/or nonῌglobalization.