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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 October 2009
Few reading this Journal would argue with the assertion that both the substance and the study of world politics are now characterized by a seemingly endless process of change. The proliferation of political issues, especially those labelled “post-industrial“, and the recognition of transnational phenomena, among other factors, have greatly increased the number of problems considered ‘legitimate‘ by the scholar and practitioner. Yet we have long been made aware of many of these problems by the remarkably prescient ‘functional’ writings of one man, David Mitrany. Whenever ‘functionalism’ is used in the context of world politics or regional integration the obligatory reference is to Mitrany's A Working Peace System and, until very recently, he continued to provide the intellectual force behind the approach. The books considered in this review offer description, application and criticism of functionalism from different perspectives and with different empirical references, but the central thread remains Mitrany's conceptualization of the approach.
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Harrison, R. J., Europe in Question: Theories of Regional International Integration (London, 1974) (henceforth Europe)Google Scholar.
Mitrany, D., The Functional Theory of Politics (London, 1975) (henceforth Functional Theory)Google Scholar.
Groom, A. J. R. and Taylor, Paul (ed.), Functionalism, Theory and Practice in International Relations (London, 1975) (henceforth, Functionalism)Google Scholar.
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page 212 note 4. Mayall, James, op. cit. p. 271Google Scholar, emphasis added. Harrison, Europe, does indicate that the practice may face insuperable ideological barriers.
page 212 note 5. R. J. Vincent, loc. cit.
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page 213 note 1. Mitrany, D., ‘The Progress of International Government (1932)’ in Mitrany, Functional Theory, op. cit. p. 100Google Scholar.
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page 214 note 2. Johnson, Harry, ‘World Trading and Monetary Arrangements’, Economics and World Order (ed.), Bhagwati, J. (New York, 1972), p. 180Google Scholar.
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page 214 note 4. See, among others, Hambro, E., ‘The Human Environment: Stockholm and After’, Year Book of World Affairs, (London, 1974)Google Scholar, also see Harrison, Europe, pp. 32–33 for a discussion of the problems of perception.
page 215 note 1. Claude, I. L., op. cit. p. 362 and 367Google Scholar, and Harrison, , Europe, p. 36 and 197Google Scholar.
page 215 note 2. Weltman, J. J., ‘On the Obsolescence of War. An Essay in Theory and Policy’, International Studies Quarterly, xviii (1974), p. 409Google Scholar and see also Harrison, R. J., Europe, op. cit. pp. 198–219Google Scholar.
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page 215 note 4. Ibid.
page 215 note 5. In Functionalism, op. cit.
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page 215 note 8. See, Inkeles, A., ‘The Emerging Social Structure of the World’, World Politics, xxvii (1975), especially pp. 477–83Google Scholar.
page 215 note 9. See, among others, Burton, J. W., ‘Functionalism and the Resolution of Conflict’, Functionalism, op. citGoogle Scholar.
page 215 note 10. Quoted by Mitrany, ‘Political Theory for the New Society’, Functionalism, op. cit. p. 32.
page 216 note 1. Harrison, R. J., Europe, op. cit. pp. 36 and 96Google Scholar.
page 216 note 2. Ibid. p. 36.
page 216 note 3. Pentland, C., International Theory, op. citGoogle Scholar.
page 216 note 4. Ibid. p. 84.
page 216 note 5. Mitrany, D., Functional Theory, op. cit. p. 265Google Scholar.
page 216 note 6. Mitrany, D., International Congress on Mental Health (London, 1948)Google Scholar, cited in R. J. Harrison, op. cit. p. 37.
page 216 note 7. Pentland, C., International Theory, op. cit. p. 87Google Scholar.
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page 217 note 1. Pentland, C., International Theory, op, cit. p. 98Google Scholar.
page 217 note 2. Taylor, Paul, ‘Functionalism and Strategies for International Integration’, Functionalism, op. cit. p. 87Google Scholar.
page 217 note 3. McKnight, A., ‘Functionalism and the Specialised Agencies’, Functionalism, op. citGoogle Scholar.
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page 217 note 5. Haas, E., op. cit. p. 211Google Scholar.
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page 217 note 7. Mitrany, D., Functional Theory, op. cit. p. 265Google Scholar.
page 217 note 8. Eckstein, Harry, ‘Authority Patterns: A Structural basis for Political Inquiry’, American Political Science Review, lxv, (1973), pp. 1142–61CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
page 217 note 9. See, Hodges, Michael, ‘Functionalism and Multinational Companies’, Functionalism, op. cit. for a preliminary analysisGoogle Scholar.
