On a Hinge of History: The Mutual Vulnerability of South and North

Stewart K. Sutley is a Ph.D. candidate in political science at the
University of Alberta.

In response to the opportunities offered by the resolution of the Cold
War, Head undertakes to stress the priority of addressing North-South
issues both in a general sense and with regard to particulars (economic,
environmental, population, and military conditions). Head’s attempt to
direct the international and Canadian foreign-policy agendas results
equally from his practical experience (as long-time head of the
International Development Research Centre in Ottawa) and from his
personal commitment to ethical human relations.

The author’s examination of the North-South relationship aims to
destroy the illusion of Northern invulnerability to Southern
development, while building an argument that stresses the
multidimensional nature of the “mutual vulnerability of South and
North.” While Head starts his analysis with an ethical impetus, he
sustains it mainly on what he calls a “cost analysis” conjoined with
commensensical arguments. Head concludes with a firm and optimistic call
to join in the shift of global priorities.

The author’s argument succeeds and fails at different levels. Head
clearly succeeds in communicating his priorities, in this instance
laying bare the horrid and worsening conditions of human existence, in
that instance confronting our seeming indifference to those same
conditions. He is less successful in making the volume readable,
precisely because of the long passages devoted exclusively to arid
economic statistics. Finally, because the author effectively
demonstrates human vulnerability, it is inhibitive to his argument to
retain the perspective of viewing matters dichotomously (that is, in
North-South terms). Head’s argument has the effect of “dissolving”
this divide, but at the volume’s end his exhortations to action are
formulated on the divided framework and in the Northern chiliastic
perspective that he decries elsewhere in his study.

Strong on vision, potent in its moralism, and distracting in its
attention to socioeconomic facts and figures, On a Hinge of History does
not hide its strengths and weaknesses. As a serious statement that
consciously disturbs conventions, this volume provides impetus, not
answers.