FTESources report

The Materials Forum - new focus for resources information

Several professional institutions

concerned with materials have established a new group entitled ‘The Materials Forum’. This has arisen out of their joint concern over the future

In March 1978, the Institution of

availability in the UK, at reasonable

Mechanical Engineers took the initiative in organizing a ‘Materials Seminar’.

prices, of metals and materials which

This meeting was presided over by Professor Sir Hugh Ford, FRS, who

are necessary inputs to manufacturing

was president of the Institution at that time. The meeting also had the formal

industry.

support of The Metals Society, the British National Committee on Materials and NEDO. It was well attended by people from industry and the academic world, and at the final

session Sir Hugh Ford proposed setting

up ‘The Materials Forum’ to further the concern of the gathering about material- availability problems of the future. He

In the months following the Seminar, approaches were made to industrial

emphasized that although there was

firms requesting financial support for the administration and operation of a

now adequate concern over future fuel

Forum. By the summer of 1979 sufficient money and support had been

supplies in the UK, there was less public

assured by industry, and by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers

and governmental concern over raw

and The Metals Society, so that a start could be made. An initial Steering

material supplies. His proposal received

Committee was set up, composed of senior members of these institutions and

widespread support from the meeting.

chaired by Sir Hugh Ford. This writer

Book reviews

North-South conflict - strategies and obstacles

was appointed Technical Adviser and Secretary of the new group, on a part- time basis.

The Steering Committee has defined the objectives of the Materials Forum. It is to act as a focal point of the collection and dissemination of new information on the availability, winning, fabricating, use and recovery of engineering and other key materials for industry. Although this group will be independent of government, it will seek to communicate with those responsible for policy making and decision taking regarding essential imported materials. It should be added that interest is not confined to the three initial institutions mentioned above; indeed, at the time of writing, certain others were expressing keen interest in being involved.

Information about the details of the technical programme and the activities of the Materials Forum will be given later when they have developed. The Institution of Mechanical Engineers is initially the headquarters of the Forum, but all communications should be sent to the secretary’s address, given below.

Fred Roberts

Summerfield House

Bainbridge

Leyburn,

North Yorkshire, UK

BEYOND THE NORTH-SOUTH STALEMATE

by Roger D. Hansen

McGraw-Hill for the Council on

Foreign Relations/l 980s Project,

New York, 1979, xv+329 pp, $12.95

This book is one in a series published by the US Council on Foreign Relations concerned with the relations between the rich and poor states in the world

economy in the coming decade. The aim of this series is essentially policy- prescriptive, that is, analysis is undertaken with the aim of suggesting the ways in which goals, strategies, and policies should be formulated to guarantee an international system whose main features are moderation, greater equity and participation.

Hansen’s study is frankly disappointing. Within the past five years there has been a flood of books on North-South relations, most, in my

opinion, unworthy of serious attention. This book does little to improve that dismal record. The aim is to provide an understanding of the way in which North-South relations have evolved, to suggest how they will continue to do so in the 1980s and to make some suggestions designed to break the current stalemate in North-South negotiations.

In analysing the evolution of the North-South stalemate Hansen’s focus is almost exclusively on events since

RESOURCES POLICY December 1979 301

Book reviews

1973. In this he is following the widespread tendency to date the North-South dialogue from 1973. This is fallacious and leads to not only errors of fact, but also errors of judgment. For example he asserts that the non-aligned movement only began to be seriously interested in international economic issues from the Algiers summit in 1973. This is incorrect. An examination of the Lusaka Declaration on Non-Alignment and Economic Progress (September 1970) and the Georgetown Action Programme for Economic Cooperation Amont Non-Aligned (August 1972) reveals a concern for international economic problems not markedly different from that shown in the Economic Declaration of Algiers. He also assumes a far greater degree of cooperation between the non-aligned movement and the Group of 77 than in fact exists. The events since 1973 mark an intensification in a process begun as far back as the First UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD I) in 1964, and therefore should be seen in that context. It is then possible to analyse the North-South conflict over a longer period of time with specific attention to shifts in the world economy and the perceptions of decision makers to these shifts.

In two separate chapters he considers the likely trends in the South and the North respectively in the coming decade. He foresees a fragmentation of Southern diplomatic unity primarily because of differential rates of economic growth. It is pertinent to ask why this should be the case in the 1980s when, despite the same process occurring, in the 1960s and 1970s there was no fragmenting of the coalition. The answers provided by Hansen are not particularly convincing. He does however recognize three other factors which will be important for the maintenance of Southern unity. These are the future behaviour of OPEC countries, the responsiveness of the North to Southern demands and the direction of growth in the international economy. In discussing the domestic developments in Southern society he foresees a trend toward growing authoritarian regimes, but the argument is not particularly illuminating given the lack of any real discussion about the connections between regime type,

302

economic growth and foreign policy behaviour, beyond tendentious, value- laden generalizations. In his examination of the North he foresees a decentralization of Northern leadership, ie the USA being successfully challenged by Europe and Japan. Extrapolating from current trends Hansen argues that current economic problems like inflation and unemployment could worsen, leading to the adoption of neo-mercantilist policies. He also considers the possibility that the liberal democratic societies of the North may be faced with a crisis which severely affects the capacity of ruling regimes to govern. There are variants of this thesis which emphasize either the cultural contradictions of capitalism or social scarcity to account for the crisis of democracy.

Finally, Hansen considers three main approaches to the North-South conflict and suggests a way of going beyond stalemate. The three approaches are:

the Graduation Scenario, which attempts to integrate the upper tier less developed countries (LDCs) into the international economy, and to make the minimum possible adjustments to the present system; the Global Reform Ingredient, which includes a wide diversity of proposals all aimed at achieving significant change in the international economy with special benefits for the developing countries;

0 the Basic Human NeedsJngrediegt, which identifies the problem of poverty as being concentrated in the rural areas of the Third World and seeks to remedy this by providing for basic human needs.

Hansen identifies three issue-areas as being particularly important - food/nutrition, health care and basic education. After a critique of these three approaches he concludes that without the addition of the basic human needs ingredient to the fundamental elements of North-South strategies and without Southern willingness to work with the North in shaping these policies into something workable then global reform will fail. He calculates that these policies should cost $15 billion (109)/year. He further suggests the creation of a new technical and decision-making organization to receive financial contributions from the North, make allocations, and monitor programme performance. Even if we accept the necessity for such a programme, a major fault of this book is Hansen’s failure to tell us how the new regime can be instituted, ie how it will overcome the obstacles that face any such programme - increased Northern funding and Southern commitments to reorient their development strategies.

Marc Williams

School ofAfrican andAsian Studies

University of Sussex, UK

Leasing -costs and benefits

THE LEASING OF FEDERAL LANDS These energy resources fall under the FOR FOSSIL FUELS PRODUCTION jurisdiction of the US Mineral Leasing

Act of 1920, as amended, which charges the US Department of the

by Stephen L. McDonald Interior with managing the inventory of public lands by designing and executing a prudent leasing system to provide the

The Johns Hopkins University Press, public with the maximum economic and

Baltimore and London, 1979, f 11 .OO social benefits. In this study, McDonald undertakes the task of investigating whether the existing leasing legislation

The issues of energy self-sufficiency and and practices contribute to an efficient its cost are very high on the national energy economy. agenda. The most promising energy To set the framework for his resources of oil, gas, coal, and oil shale economic analysis the author discusses are potentially located on public lands. first the major pieces of legislation on

RESOURCES POLICY December 1979