The International Dimensions of Democratization: Europe and the Americas by LaurenceWhiteheadReview by: Francis FukuyamaForeign Affairs, Vol. 76, No. 3 (May - Jun., 1997), pp. 124-125Published by: Council on Foreign RelationsStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20048044 .

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Recent Books

example, argues that while China followed

realist precepts in foreign policy, it did so not because realism is a universal mode of

state behavior, but because it arose out of

Chinese cultural and historical experience. Other chapters look at the development of

international norms in areas like human

rights and chemical weapons proliferation. The broadening of realism to take

account of social and cultural factors in

the shaping of security policy is to be welcomed. The authors of this collec

tion have largely avoided the pitfall of

abandoning power politics altogether as

a framework in favor of cultural studies.

Growing Artificial Societies: Social Science

from the Bottom Up. by joshua m.

EPSTEIN AND ROBERT AXTELL.

Washington: Brookings, 1996, 208 pp.

%9-95 (paper, $18.95). Astute readers will note the influence of

the Santa Fe Institute and concepts of 4 complex adaptive systems" in this books

title. Most social science models, including the general equilibrium model at the

heart of modern neoclassical economics,

mathematically reconstruct the aggregate behavior of populations by imposing highly simplified behavioral assumptions on them (for example, rational utility

maximization). These models also tend

to be static, that is, they cannot account

for evolutionary change over time. Mod

eling "from the bottom up" means using

computers to test the interaction of indi

vidual agents rather than aggregated pop

ulations, and has been used successfully in

the life sciences to predict the evolution

of complex biological systems. This book describes an extension of this methodol

ogy into the social sciences, in particular the authors' "sugarscape" society in

which individual agents engage in sexual

reproduction, trade, learning, and a range of social behaviors. While the issues raised

here may seem overly technical for general

readers, the use of this technique repre sents a recognition that existing models

are too simplistic and mechanical ever

to capture the realities of complex social

systems. The next logical area for it to

spread is into military modeling, and

readers should expect further works

along these lines in the coming years.

The International Dimensions of Democratization: Europe and the

Americas, edited by Laurence

whitehead. New York: Oxford

University Press, 1996,431 pp. $65.00. The burgeoning literature on transitions

to democracy has been largely written by students of comparative politics who are

often specialists on one country or region, and hence tend to emphasize domestic

factors in explaining why democratic

transitions do or do not come about. This

book explores systematically the interna

tional dimensions of democratization. As

Whitehead points out, the simple geo

graphical contiguity of democratic transi

tions occurring first in southern Europe, then in the Caribbean and Latin America, then in formerly communist countries, and the wave-like pattern in which de

mocratizations happen suggests that

international influences are at least as

important as domestic ones. His introduc

tion and the chapter by Philippe Schmitter

suggest a taxonomy of mechanisms

through which democratic influences are transmitted across borders, including

contagion, control (where one or more

countries explicitly promote democracy), consent, and conditionality (through the

[124] FOREIGN AFFAIRS-Volume 76 No. 3

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Recent Books

influence of international institutions

like the International Monetary Fund or World Bank). Subsequent chapters explore

concrete cases in Latin America, Europe, and Eastern Europe and provide useful

assessments ofthe effectiveness of democ

racy?and human rights?promotion

policies by the United States, Europe, and various ngos.

Modernization and Postmodernization:

Cultural, Economic, and Political

Change in 43 Societies, by ronald

inglehart. Princeton: Princeton

University Press, 1997, 44? PP $60.00 (paper, $18.95).

Based on the University of Michigans long-running and massive World Values

Survey, this book provides substantial

empirical support for the concept of modernization?that is, that economic,

social, and political development are linked in coherent ways and that all societies un

dergoing modernization tend to follow

certain consistent trajectories. While

eschewing deterministic or linear theories

of historical development, Inglehart notes

that virtually all highly developed societies are

experiencing a shift from industrial-age values such as economic and physical

security or a strong work ethic to "post modern" values emphasizing quality of

life or self-expression. The books data

give support to the classic Lipset correla

tion between economic development and

democracy, and adds an important cul

tural variable to the explanation for why these phenomena are linked: interpersonal trust and organizational membership, fac

tors emphasized in Robert Putnam's work

on Italy, are found to be correlated with

both development and democracy. Non

academics might find the book's presen tation of statistical data a bit off-putting.

U.N. Peacekeeping, American Policy, and

the Uncivil Wars ofthei??os. edited

by william j. durch. New York:

St. Martin's Press, 1997,5?2 PP- $49-95 This follow-up to the author's earlier

edition, The Evolution of UN. Peacekeeping, presents case studies of major recent

U.N. peacekeeping operations in Angola,

Cambodia, Bosnia, Somalia, and Rwanda.

The collection details the by now familiar dilemmas of peacekeeping: many conflicts

like Bosnia require peace enforcement

rather than peacekeeping, but the con

tributing states are seldom willing to

commit sufficient resources or to take

sides in highly politicized situations,

leaving U.N. forces on the ground as

powerless hostages. This volume does not

add anything surprising to the knowledge of peacekeeping, but the individual chap ters are more

comprehensive than many ofthe books on this topic in recent years.

Economie, Social, and Environmental

RICHARD N. COOPER

Who Elected the Bankers? Surveillance and

Control in the World Economy, by

louis w. PAULY. Ithaca: Cornell

University Press, 1997,176 pp. $25.00. The core of this book skillfully describes

the evolution of international monetary

cooperation from the League of Nations

To order any book reviewed or advertised in Foreign ?ffairs, call 800-255-2665.

FOREIGN AFFAIRS May/June 1007 [125]

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