Moscow, Nauka Publishing House. 1976. 192 pages. The print run is 3,400. Price 63 kopecks.

A new work by J. Y. Etinger, a leading researcher at the Institute of World Economy and International Relations of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Historical Sciences, a specialist in international relations of developing countries, is a logical continuation of the previous book by the same author "Interstate Relations in the World".

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Africa" (M. 1972), devoted to a topical and important issue. It significantly complements the previous work, and it uses extensive documentary material to study a little-studied aspect of international relations. Studying the inter-State organizations of Asian and African countries, the process of their formation, the nature, activities and the role they play in modern international life is necessary for a correct understanding of the alignment of political forces and the economic and political situation prevailing on these continents.

The paper is characterized by a comprehensive approach to the study of Afro-Asian intergovernmental organizations. By looking at the historical, structural and functional aspects of the issue under study, the author was able to uncover many important, though often hidden, factors and trends underlying the growing desire of Afro-Asian countries to cooperate on a regional basis.

The book makes extensive use of documents from intergovernmental organizations in Asia and Africa, the Soviet and foreign press, and the works of Soviet and foreign scientists. Drawing on such a wide range of sources and literature allowed the author to saturate the work with rich and interesting factual material, which gives a fairly complete picture of the historical path traveled and the current state of the most important interstate organizations in Asia and Africa. At the same time, the monograph is not so much informative as analytical in nature. The author reveals the main features of Afro-Asian regional organizations, which are an important and specific phenomenon in the system of international relations of our time. While they share many of the common features of international organizations, they also bear the imprint of the national liberation movement and are its collective spokespersons, reflecting its inherent strengths and weaknesses.

The author traces the evolution of inter-state organizations in Asia and Africa, and offers a convincing classification of them. It is based on the political and socio-economic orientation of interstate organizations. Classifying them according to this feature, J. J. Etinger distinguishes two groups: "mixed" and "homogeneous" in terms of the composition of participants (p. 33-34). Analyzing the activities of each of these groups, he considers the factors that can influence the nature of this activity, and correctly concludes that the economic effect of the activities of "homogeneous" organizations is significantly higher than that of "mixed" organizations.

The author's conclusion that "the centrifugal tendencies in regional organizations of Asian and African countries are quite large, much larger than in similar organizations of industrially developed capitalist countries, which are approximately at the same level of socio - economic development and whose political regimes in most cases are very similar" (p.10) also seems legitimate.

The book comprehensively examines the history of the emergence and formation, structure and main aspects of the political and economic activities of such interstate organizations as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the South Pacific Forum, Regional Cooperation for Development, the Organization of African Unity (OAU), the Common African-Malagasy Organization (OCAM), the Economic Community West Africa (CEAO), etc. Of particular interest are the sections devoted to the analysis of the activities of the South Pacific Forum, whose activities are covered in our literature for the first time, as well as ASEAN, interstate organizations of Oceania, the Organization of Arab Oil Exporting Countries and the OAU.

For the first time in Soviet literature, the author thoroughly covers the issue of the position of the OAU in major international crises, shows the attitude of the OAU to the problems of internal unity and territorial integrity of African states. Ya. Ya. Etinger emphasizes that the OAU, like other interstate organizations of African countries, perceive with great concern any actions directed against the participants of these organizations, any attempts weaken or dismember young states. This is seen as an encroachment on all participants of interstate organizations, as a threat to the very existence of these states. Illustrating this position, the author examines the position of the OAU and its members during the Nigerian crisis of 1967-1970, which had a significant impact on the political fate of Africa in general, and on the direction of the international community.-

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the nature of the activities of the OAU and other intergovernmental organizations of African countries. The paper also highlights the position of the OAU in the Indian-Pakistani conflict in the early 1970s, which led to the creation of the People's Republic of Bangladesh, and examines the issue of relations between the OAU and other intergovernmental organizations of African countries. The section dedicated to OK also attracts attention. An AM that analyzes the evolution, activities and place of this organization in the system of inter-State regional organizations in Africa.

The monograph contains a fundamentally important conclusion that in recent years there has been an increasing trend towards the creation of interstate regional organizations in Asia and Africa (p. 9, 184). These organizations play an ever-increasing role in the political and economic life of young States, and contribute to strengthening their cooperation in the fight against neo-colonialism and for strengthening their political and economic independence. At the same time, the author convincingly substantiates his thesis that as the paths of socio-economic development of participants in international organizations increasingly diverge, the latter are increasingly becoming the arena of heated discussions and political struggle. between countries that consistently take anti-imperialist positions, and countries whose ruling circles are inclined to compromise with imperialism and are ready to refuse to make coordinated decisions for this purpose (p. 186).

All the conclusions of the book are thoroughly reasoned. Many of them have both scientific and theoretical, as well as practical and political value. In some sections, the author not only reveals the main factors and trends underlying the existence and functioning of a number of interstate organizations, but also provides a reasonable forecast of the prospects for the development of these organizations in the future.

At the same time. J. J. Etinger should have paid more attention to the problem of border-territorial disputes in Asia and Africa and their impact on the processes of regional integration. As you know, the experience of political development of African countries over the past decades shows that it is territorial and border disputes that hinder not only the development of bilateral relations, but also the creation and operation of various interstate organizations of neighboring countries (for example, the Kenny - Ugandan border conflict significantly complicates the functioning of the East African Economic Community). It would also be desirable to cover in more detail the question of the attitude of the Western Powers to the inter-State organizations of the countries of Asia and Africa. It is advisable to do this, given that the leading imperialist Powers have an ambiguous assessment of these organizations. I would like to see a more detailed and thorough conclusion in this paper. In its current form, it cannot satisfy the reader, as it is not adequate to the rich and interesting factual material and the important conclusions contained in the monograph.

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