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PART ISAN REVIEW
vi ctori es o f England ove r Spain merel y consec rated in battl e what had
already taken place in the economic realm.
At times C laudio's book launches into a basic critique o f histori cism,
Hispanicism , and dependency theory directly, if not always sequ enti ally.
C laudi o expresses an aversion fo r redu ctioni sm and contempt fo r
victimology as a nati onal styl e. H e sees these assorted isms - co rrec tly in
my view - as little else than apologeti cs rather than explanati o ns for the
failure of Latin Ameri ca to keep pace.
His wo rk is furth e r distinguished by an avo idance o f anti–
Americani sm, and no less novel in these days of anti-WASP rhetoric, an
avoidance o f anti-British sentiments as well. C laudi o is aware o f th e
bastions which he is sto rming, assaulting mi ght be more appropriate. H e
is aware of the risks he is running. It is not easy fo r someone with a deep
commitment to, as well as bac kground in , So uth Ame ri ca n culture to
write a boo k like thi s. It is an ac t o f politi cal co urage, whi ch is a
precious commodity in intellectual life, and hence sho uld be unabas hedly
celebrated . N ow I sho uld like
to
move into some details of
Th e New
World
of
the Gothic Fox
that make it a boo k of truly classic dimensions.
Claudi o perceives how the centrali ty o f language, laws and customs
led to modern concerns. H e offers a fa sc inating analysis of how the
counte r-p os iti o n of the structure of N apoleoni c law led to its
differenti ati o n from th e common law structure o f British and America n
law . The di sas trous infu sion of Bo naparti sm so lidifi ed thi s co unter
po sitio n thro ughout So uth Ame ri ca. I wo uld add to hi s lega l
observati o ns that in the English language there is a stro ng differenti ation
made betwee n that whi ch is morally ri ght and that whi ch is lega ll y
sancti o ned . In other European languages there is a pleasant ambi gui ty
about " right" and "wro ng" in the lingui sti c expressio n o f legal concepts.
Words like
recht, droit , derecho,
ca n be used almost interchangeabl y in
empiri cal and ethical matters . This clea rly is not the case in the English
language. This is important beyond formalist considerations; refl ecting as
it does the fact that English law emphasizes th e sense of indi vidual
responsibility. This involves more than th e concept o f being ri ght in the
epistemi c se nse; it entails what w e are obliga ted to do in th e ethi cal
sense.
Claudi o possesses an O akeshott-like notion o f obliga tion as part of
the armor of the free person. This sharp distincti o n between ri ght and
law leads us to consider other profound characteristi c differences between
North Ameri ca n and Latin Ameri ca n culture, such as th e different
interpretati o ns of "winning" and " losing." In Latin Ameri ca, there is
invested in th e concept of winning its si gnificance to national status . This
