Mel Gurtov's textbook, Global Politics in the Human Interest takes a broad and thorough view of world conditions. His background as professor of political science, RAND Corporation employee, and author of eleven books and numerous articles provides a solid basis for his lively, intelligent writing in this work. The purpose of this paper is to briefly summarize Gurtov's book and to discuss his major themes.
Global Politics in the Human Interest covers the conditions affecting world well-being. Gurtov steps beyond traditional political views and sees the world as a planetary unit, much as an astronaut on the moon. He rises above national viewpoints to a vision of global concerns--peace, food and employment for all, cultural dignity. He discusses the delicate concept of interdependence in contemporary world politics--the interwoven trade connections among all countries. He moves the reader through an understanding of previous sense-bound theory and practice based on realism to a newer value of humanism in perceiving the globe.
Separate chapters discuss each level of current world civilization--the Third World, the First World, and the Second World. Gurtov enables the reader to see commonalities among countries in each group and to understand the relationships among issues facing each group. The final chapter implores the reader to stretch beyond the usual nationalistic thinking to a hope for transforming world politics to an agenda which truly serves all human interest: "The ability to reach unity in diversity will be the beauty and the test of our civilization --Ghandi" (p. 183).
Gurtov explores several major themes in this textbook. His first theme is that the world currently is in a state of crisis. Over two billion people do not have access to clean water. About a billion people are malnourished. In thirty-four countries 80 percent of the population cannot read. In the late 1970's, about 322 million people wer...