Disintegrating West

The conflict between Soviet Marxism and White House liberalism is viewed as a ritual which masks the internal tensions on both sides. Within those tensions lies the nation-state, treated here as the momentary creation of history, neither independent of society nor immutable. One major theme of this book is, indeed, the passing of the nation-state, or rather, its struggle for survival in the face of the increased interpenetration of western societies and of the multi-national corporations which change the rules of international economy and upset the balance of political forces.

The USA, facing greater and greater financial difficulties in its role as world banker and world policeman, is reacting with increasing sharpness to the possible emergence of Europe, led by Germany. as a new super-power. Within Europe there is an increasing struggle between the central industrial nations and the peripheral agricultural regions, with Britain sinking unhappily on the edges of the skirmish. The increasing importance of the defence industries combined with the erosion of NATO, the uncertainty of oil and the chaotic situation of inter national finance, all point to the real possibility of political and financial problems of a kind we have not dreamed of.

This beautifully written book approaches these questions with a pugnacity and a depth of under standing which illuminates these issues with out standing clarity.