The peacemakers: Peaceful settlement of disputes since 1945

Brief Reviews program. ‘Ihe so-so performance of the Patriot missile in the Gulf War has had little impact, and the arguments over the effectiveness of such defenses-which have changed not much over their forty year history-matter little. Even the new Clinton Administration has so far made only marginal changes. Baucom, a retired Air Force officer and former historian for the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization, is perfectly placed to tell the history of strategic defense. His fair-minded, detailed, and readable account captures both the waves of technology and the ripples of behind-the-scenes politics. He provides the definitive account. The Peacemakers: Peaceful Settlement of Disputes Since 1945. By High Miall. New York: St. Martin’s, 1992. 307 pp. $59.95. With the end of the cold war, it was said, superpowers would have less at stake in regional conflicts and would permit honest brokers such as the United Nations to arbitrate disputes over territorial claims, sovereignty, and the like. Miall analyzes the record of such peaceful settlements during the post-World War II era to determine whether and when such negotiations work. Drawing on eighty case studies, me Peacemakers analyzes the structure of each conflict (was it, for example, a zero-sum conflict); the attitudes of parties involved (was it “strictly business” or did it have a basis in ethnic animosity); and the behavior of the parties (were they seriously committed to arbitration). Miall does not hide his sympathies toward non-violent negotiations (never a good war or a bad peace, to quote Franklin), but nevertheless he presents a thorough and insightful analysis, along with a compact discussion of the underlying bargaining theory. For the advocate of international arbitration, the bad news is that the process most often fails when it is most needed: settling deep-seated ethnic disputes involving tangible resources and control of society. For the scholar, the main shortcoming is that Miall is unable to provide a definitive measure that could be used before the fact to predict whether negotiations would succeed. Blessed the peacemakers may be, but only if they are able to deliver. The Pentagon: The First FiiYears. By Alfred Goldberg. (Washington, DC.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1992). 197 pp. $17.00. A book about a building? Don’t snicker, the Pentagon may be the most cost-effective “weapon system” yet bought by the United States, and this well-researched, well-illustrated book offers some useful insights for defense politics, planning, and program management. Goldberg, a historian in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, has combed the archives thoroughly to provide an informative, entertaining study. In short, the book performs as well as does its subject. The Pentagon was originally planned in 1940, as the United States mobilized for war, to consolidate the Army facilities spreading across Washington like kudzo. The development of the Pentagon brings to mind that of other weapon systems: Lie Star Wars, the basic concept was decided over a weekend. Like the B-2 bomber, Congress was not fully apprised of the costs of the project Summer

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