SHOTWELL (James T.) – HORS DU GOUFFRE (On the rim of the abyss), Translation by Roger Pinto, Preface by Mr. Édouard Herriot
SHOTWELL (James T.) – HORS DU GOUFFRE (On the rim of the abyss), Translation by Roger Pinto, Preface by Mr. Édouard Herriot
    SHOTWELL (James T.)
    OUT OF THE ABYSS (On the Rim of the Abyss), Translated by Roger Pinto, Preface by Édouard Herriot
Édition :
    Paris
Date :
    1936
    octavo, paperback, uncut, fairly good condition, X-464 p.
    A work of chilling relevance: “It is not easy to describe, much less to summarize in a conclusion, the message conveyed by Professor Shotwell’s book. I imagine it was even more difficult for the author to choose a plan and adhere to it. This work is, in fact, the most comprehensive picture we have been given of postwar international history and the possibilities that lie ahead today. But it is a history written ‘in the heat of the moment,’ so to speak. It resembles less a retrospective treatise on political and legal events, measured by the historian, than the diary of a witness and sometimes a participant.” It is therefore no coincidence that the very title of the work is borrowed from a text by Mr. Paul-Boncour: on the eve of presenting the “French Plan” (which Mr. Shotwell also praises) to the 1932 Disarmament Conference, the delegate of France showed the nations arranged according to a series of concentric circles in relation to the danger of war. “From the outermost zone of greatest security, these circles become ever narrower as they plunge toward the center of the abyss, where those most threatened and most affected by war are found… To triumph, the organization of peace must be adapted to this fundamental circumstance… Thus, the French Minister outlined a plan for a universal system of collective security, formed of concentric circles, with graduated responsibility for maintaining peace… The place of the United States in such a system is obvious. This place is imposed upon them by their position on the outer edge—but not outside—of the danger of war.” This is the crux of the matter. For the United States: limited responsibility. To be indifferent to universal peace is inhumane, unintelligent, clumsy, and dangerous, for American peace would not withstand a general war. To plunge into the heart of international turmoil by accepting burdens equal to those borne by the countries directly threatened is excessive zeal, an untenable stance because American public opinion could not possibly sanction such a policy (as we have clearly seen); it is therefore utopian. American foreign policy will navigate between these two pitfalls. This is what the author of the book demonstrates, with irrefutable arguments drawn from recent events. A powerful current of conviction, of active fidelity to an idea, flows through these pages. Shotwell himself describes it thus: the idea of ​​“those who fight for the greatest reform in world history, that which aims to eliminate war as an instrument of national policy.”

Référence : 56883

70,00 €

Mots-clés : Public international law

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