Democracy in World Politics

Mr. Pearson’s approach to world politics might be characterized as a combination of moral firmness with patience and toleration, and a determination to explore every possible avenue toward an honorable peace. He has barbed words for those who expect easy solutions to international problems, as well as for those who succumb to despair or take refuge in isolationism. With penetrating insight he outlines the problems introduced by the new scale of armed force in atomic warfare, he considers the problems of international coalitions, and he analyzes the question of secret versus open diplomacy. Particularly important is his conception of the mediating role that the United Nations does play now, and the role that it can play in the future. Mr. Pearson approaches all these problems with vision but at the same time with the hard-headed realism of an active statesman, as shown especially in his final chapter on the influences which determine the international policies of the democracies.

Originally published in 1955.

The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.