World politics and tension areas

This book is a study, along fundamentally new lines, of how and why geographically limited inter national tensions do or do not lead to war.

Reaching into the past for a survey of some of the causes of tensions, the author concentrates on two basic forms: those which arise from ideological differences and those which arise from conflicting concepts of national or ethnic self-interest.

Using the tools of anthropology, sociology and political science, but always concerned with the practical goals of national and cultur security, Mr Gross has constructed a system of criteria by which the likelihood of geographically limited international tensions escalating into a major war can be appraised. But his ultimate objective is to suggest the ways in which the use of force and violence can be reduced and perhaps eventually eliminated. The result is a work of immense importance to students of foreign affairs, of history, of the sociology of intergroup relations, and of war to all, indeed, who concern themselves, either professionally or privately, with the logistics of survival and peace.

Feliks Gross, Professor of Sociology at Brooklyn College and Adjunct Professor of Government at New York University, has also been visiting professor at the Woodrow Wilson School, University of Virginia. He is the author of more than a score of books on political ideologies, International relations, and sociology. During 1957-8 and again in 1964-5 Mr Gross was a Fullbright Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Rome.