Major governments of modern Europe

This study of the governments and politics of Great Britain, France, West
Germany, and the Soviet Union began as a revision of my Governments of
Greater European Powers. The reworking became so extensive that the present
book is virtually a new work. It has been condensed, reorganized, clarified,
and brought completely up to date. Facts have been verified, interpretations
reconsidered, and perspective freshened. Some new features have been added.
The following improvements may be mentioned.
1. The book has been substantially reduced in size, by some two hundred
pages, in response to teacher and student suggestions for a text that can be
mastered in a semester, yet not at the cost of superficiality. The important facts
and interpretation are still here. Scores of teachers, with long experience, ad-
vised me in the execution of the reduction in size.
2. An introductory chapter on the crucial problems of government in the
twentieth century is designed to be a focus, guide, and stimulus to students
before they plunge into the ocean of comparative data.
3. The presentation of the various political science themes has been reor-
ganized to make more easily comprehensible the significance and the inter-
relations of the institutions and political behavior of each country.
4. The English has been simplified to assist the younger students, but, it is
hoped, without loss of vividness and lucidity. That bane of textbooks on gov-
ernment, gobbledygook or jargon, has been studiously avoided.
5. The presentation is almost as of yesterday:
For Britain, it includes an assessment of the strength of political parties after
the election of October, 1959.
In the French section the events that led to the Fifth Republic and the
events that threatened its collapse in early 1960 are narrated. What is more
important, the analysis of the institutions of the Fifth Republic is thoroughly
imbedded in the whole discussion of French government: it is not a mere
afterthought
A radical change has been made in the treatment of West Germany. The
present book gives two-thirds of its pages to the Bonn Republic and the op-
eration of the constitution under Konrad Adenauer. The evolution of German
institutions is still, of course, an important feature.
Finally, the government, politics, and economy of the Soviet Union have
been fully reconsidered, especially in the light of the "thaw” since the death
of Stalin and the effects of the Twentieth and Twenty-first Congresses of the
Communist party of the Soviet Union under the leadership and domination
of Khrushchev. The study comes down beyond the far-reaching changes of
May, 1960, in the top leadership.
6. To assist students and teachers, lists of questions have been prepared for
each country, and in addition, there is one list to embrace the main political
science themes in which all can be reflected on comparatively. They may be
a help in stimulating discussion and further reading and research.
7. The bibliography lists the chief and latest works with a brief description
of the significance of each book or article. It is a working bibliography, not
a vain show of scholarship.
8. The appendix containing the constitutional documents of the four nations
is up to date. Teachers have emphasized to me how valuable they find it to
be able to say to students: “Here is the actual constitution of the Communist
party of the Soviet Union, or of the Bonn Republic, or of the French Fifth Re-
public. Look at its terms, its organization, its subtlety, and compare it with that
of your own country, and, not least, compare its terms with the political
scientist's account of how it works in practice." I agree with them.
I was fortunate in having a Fulbright Professorship at the Institute of Social
Studies at The Hague in the fall of 1959 and early 1960. It enabled me to see
my European colleagues, individually and in seminar sessions, and government
officials of the new generation as well as the old, in order to verify my data
and understanding of their institutions.
I need to make brief remarks on the significance of the study of compara-
tive government, first as to content, second as to method.
This book describes and analyzes the government and political behavior of
four great nations, three of them democracies, one of them, the Soviet Union,
a totalitarian dictatorship. Their relationships, whether as allies or enemies,
are extremely close, morally and (owing to the advent of nuclear weapons)
physically. It is urgent that we know our friends and our foes. Ignorance can
only burden our budgets, play havoc with our military service, spoil economic
opportunity, betray the fortunes of democracy everywhere-and
is on
desperate trial-and even cost us our lives. To remain ignorant of the political
mores of other nations is to remain ignorant of our own, for the mind thrives
on comparisons; and it is to leave ourselves unprotected from brainwashing.
Our habits are so different from those of other lands, so far away. Even our
journalists too often misguide us: they seldom give us the data of history and
culture or the depth of interpretation needed for comprehensive understand-
ing. The Balance of Power, or of Terror, is not an abstract series of circles
and oblongs in white chalk on a flat blackboard: it is a moral connection be-
tween diverse nations, tough corporate personalities, that jostle each other for
security, wealth, prestige, and the preservation and expansion of their respec-
tive ways of life.
I have tried to concentrate on the really important and key subjects, rather
than provide a holiday guide's smattering about everything seen on the sur-
face in other countries. There are certain controlling concepts and institutions
in government; and instead of trying to say a little about everything, I have
preferred to say much about these.