Blueprint for Action: A Future Worth Creating
by Thomas P.M. Barnett
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Book Summary Information
Author: Thomas P.M. BarnettEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Published)
Format: Bargain Price
Published: 2006-10-03
ISBN: N/A
Number of pages: 464
Publisher: Berkley Trade
Book Reviews of Blueprint for Action: A Future Worth Creating
Book Review: Lots of (hazy) vision...
Summary: 3 Stars
Strategic thinker Thomas Barnett's 2005 "Blueprint for Action" is a follow-up to his bestselling "The Pentagon's New Map." Barnett's thesis is that globalization has divided the world into the haves and the have nots, and the United States is uniquely positioned to police the seams and reduce the friction between the two.
There is much to recommend in this book. Barnett has a good handle on all the latest forward thinking on globalization and the asymmetric, netcentric and fourth generation warfare that seems to travel in its wake. His contacts in and around the Pentagon have given him some useful insight into where the military may think it will have to go in future. His ability to describe a big picture is both entertaining and educational.
There are lots of challenges for Barnett and any other strategist. Visionary thinking often has a short shelf life, and shouldn't be confused with 20/20 hindsight. Circumstances relentlessly change. Certainly, it is by no means clear that the big picture that Barnett describes is the only possible version, let alone one that enjoys a political consensus in the United States or anywhere else. The Pentagon's forward thinking on any topic is ultimately dependent for implementation on the particular vision of the Administration it serves and the willingness of the American public to pay for it. In Barnett's case, it would seem unlikely that his vision will be bought wholesale.
This book is recommended as an interesting read, full of new ideas and current terminology. The reader may make what he will of Barnett's prescriptions.
Summary of Blueprint for Action: A Future Worth Creating
The author of the groundbreaking bestseller takes his cutting-edge analysis to the next level.In civilian and military circles alike, The Pentagon's New Map became one of the most talked-about books of the year. The Pentagon's New Map combined security, economic, political, and cultural factors to provide a fundamental reexamination of war and peace in the post-9/11 world, and a compelling vision of the future. Now, senior adviser and military analyst Barnett tells us how we get to that future. In a book at once pragmatic, thought-provoking, and optimistic, he explores both the long- and short-term pathways for governments, institutions, and individuals alike. Paying particular attention to such nations and regions as Iran, Iraq, and the Middle East, China, North Korea, Latin America, and Africa, he outlines the strategies to pursue, the entities to create, the pitfalls to overcome.
If the first book was a compelling framework for confronting twenty-first-century problems, the new book is something more-a powerful road map through a chaotic and uncertain world to "a future worth creating."
The world is a mess. Iraq is becoming another Vietnam. Iran and North Korea are trying to get nukes or may already have them. Al Qaeda is still on the loose. In the middle of this turmoil, Tom Barnett believes America stands at a threshold. It can withdraw into itself. Or it can seize an opportunity to forge the most peaceful period in human history, where war becomes unknown. Barnett is a former professor at the U.S. Naval War College and senior advisor to the Office of the Secretary of Defense. He has been called "one of the most important strategic thinkers of our time."
Barnett maps out a sweeping new vision for the U.S. military in Blueprint for Action, the sequel to his influential previous book The Pentagon's New Map. He says the U.S. military has a massive doctrinal flaw. It has an unrivalled power to win wars. But it has little ability to win the peace. Witness Iraq, where virtually no thought was given to postwar stabilization and reconstruction. He advocates creating a new Department of Global Security in the U.S. government, tasked with putting countries back on their feet after an armed intervention by U.S. forces. He says the new department would also work to reduce economic and social instability in "disconnected" regions of the developing world. "It all starts with America and yes, it all starts with security," he writes. Barnett's vision is highly U.S.-centric and recalls the "white man's burden" philosophy of British colonial authorities. He advocates "regime change" in North Korea and Venezuela. And his solutions for the problems of the Third World are straight out of a banker's mouth: privatization, deregulation, globalization. But Blueprint for Action is an important account of the current thinking and debates at the highest levels of the Pentagon. --Alex Roslin
Military Books
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