The Icelandic Canadian - 01.03.1968, Síða 45

THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
43
powerful satire. The complete break-
down of a family comes about as Sen-
ator Thorleifur Olafsson, his evptv-
lieaded wife and restless teen-age
daughter are umbic to withstand the
temptations of i corrupt society. The
old values and traditions remain in
the person of Sigmundur Jonsson, a
farmer who looks foolish and out-of-
place among the upper-middle class
society of modern day Reykjavik.
THE NORDIC COUNCIL: A Study
of Scandinavian Regionalism
240 pp., charts, maps, index. $7.50
by Stanley V. Anderson
The five countries of Scandinavia
have found a “middle way” between
anarchic use of force and political
amalgamation in the field of inter-
national relations. Among themselves,
they will neither fight nor unite. In-
stead, they follow the way of coopera-
tion in a persistent joint effort to in-
crease mutual advantage. Their at-
tempts to foster similarities and
eliminate hampering differences con-
tribute to that mutual advantage and
create what can best be described as
regionalism.
Stanley V. Anderson’s book describes
and explains Scandinavian regionalism
by illuminating its most prominent
organ, the Nordic Council. Founded
in 1952, the Council is the official con-
sultative assembly of Members of
Parliament from Denmark, Finland,
Iceland, Norway and Sweden, whose
cabinet members attend its annual
meetings. While the countries of
northern Europe have not integrated,
There is a comprehensive intro-
duction, including bibliography of
works about and by the writer, to each
play. In addition, there is a most help-
ful general introduction to Icelandic
drama by Einar Haugen. Each play
is presented in a fresh translation.
Flere, for the first time in English, is
a collection of Icelandic drama of the
past half century.
they have functioned successfully as a
distinctive region. Scandinavia now
comprises a passport union, a common
employment market, and a reciprocal
social security area; uniform laws exist;
and economic integration is taking
place under the aegis of the European
Free Trade Association.
Professor Anderson’s extensive re-
search represents the first attempt to
explain the process of regional decision
making in Scandinavia. The factual
materials upon which the study is
based are not available elsewhere in
published form. In the author’s opin-
ion, each cohesive area in the world
is a laboratory for the student of inter-
national organization. Heretofore, the
Scandinavian experience has been
ignored, but the present study shows
how the concepts of regionalism must
be refined to take this experience into
account.
Indispensable for students and scho-
lars of international relations in gen-
eral and regionalism in particular, this
work will also be worthwhile for gen-
eral readers who have an interest in
Scandinavia.
Stanley V. Anderson is associate
professor of political science at the
University of California, Santa Bar-
bara.