Synopses & Reviews
The author of the groundbreaking New York Times bestseller The Pentagons New Map brings us a remarkable analysis of the post-Bush world, and Americas leadership role in it.In civilian and military circles alike, The Pentagons New Map became one of the most talked about books of 2004. A combination of Tom Friedman on globalization and Carl von Clausewitz on war, [it is] the red-hot book among the nations admirals and generals, wrote David Ignatius in The Washington Post. Barnetts second book, Blueprint for Action, demonstrated how to put the first books principles to work. Now, in Great Powers, Barnett delivers his most sweeping and importantbook of all.
For eight years, the current administration has done much to disconnect or alienate America from the world, but the world has certainly not been standing still. Now, with a chance to start over, what do we do? Wheres the world going now, and how do we not only rejoin it but become a leader again in what has become the most profound reordering of the globe since the end of World War II?
In Great Powers, Barnett offers a tour de force analysis of the grand realignments that are both already here and coming up fast in the spheres of economics, diplomacy, defense, technology, security, the environment, and much more. The great powers are no longer just the worlds major nation-states but the powerful forces, past, present, and future, moving with us and past us like a freight train. It is not a simple matter of a course correction but of a complete recalibration, and the opportunities it presents are far greater than the perils. Barnett gives us a fundamental understanding of both, showing us not only how the world is now but how it will be.
There are those writing now who say America is in decline . . . and we just have to deal with it. Barnett says no. Globalization as it exists today was built by Americaand now its time for America to shape and redefine what comes next. Great Powers shows us how. Bibliography. Notes. Index.
Review
Political consultant Barnett (
Blueprint for Action: A World Worth Creating, 2005, etc.) evaluates the Bush administrations failures, offers prescriptions for correcting them and pleads with America not to mess things up now that everything is going our way.
His excoriating first chapter limns The Seven Deadly Sins of Bush- Cheney, starting with Lust (for world primacy). A sensible grand strategy, even for a superpower, must attract more allies than it repulses, he notes, yet the Bush administration broke treaties and advocated preemptive wars, then complained when Russia and China refused to help in Iran, Iraq or Afghanistan. Proceeding with catchy titles, Barnett delivers A Twelve-Step Recovery Program for American Grand Strategy in the second chapter. We must begin by admitting our powerlessness over globalization, he writes. We opened that Pandoras box long ago, and its ridiculous to denounce other nations cheap labor and protectionist trade policies, because thats how American growth began. Unlike many world-affairs gurus, but in line with Fareed Zakarias The Post- American World (2008), Barnett is an optimist, pointing out that free-market capitalism is now the worlds default system, the middle-class is increasing and poverty is diminishing. Attacking Bushs fixation on the global war on terror (Sin No. 2: Anger), he stresses that its merely one of a half-dozen world problems, more easily solved by rising prosperity than military action. Naïveté, not anger, led to Bushs painfully unsuccessful efforts to spread democracy. Looking back, Barnett reminds readers that America was a one-party autocracy until the 1820s and that freedom doesnt happen when a government grants it but when an increasingly assertive, and prosperous, citizenry demand it. Chinas rise mirrors the American model more than we realize, he contends, and Iraqis wont demand a bill of rights until they have jobs.
Stands out for its in-depth analysis, historical acuity and delightfully witty prose.
Kirkus(Starred Review)
Review
Synopsis
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Pentagon's New Map, a bold, trenchant analysis of the post-Bush world In Great Powers, New York Times bestselling author and prominent political consultant Thomas Barnett provides a tour-de-force analysis of the grand realignments in the post-Bush world-in the spheres of economics, diplomacy, defense, technology, security, the environment, and more. The "great powers" are no longer just the world's nation- states, but the most powerful and dynamic influences on the global stage, requiring not simply a course correction, but a complete recalibration. Globalization as it exists today was built by America- and now, Barnett says, it's time for America to shape and redefine what comes next.
About the Author
Thomas P. M. Barnett regularly advises the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD), Special Operations Command, and Central Command, and routinely offers briefings to senior members of the four military services, the intelligence community, and Congress. Dr. Barnett is now the senior managing director of Enterra Solutions and formerly served as senior strategic researcher at the Naval War College and as assistant for Strategic Futures in OSDs Office of Force Transformation. He is a contributing editor for Esquire, and writes a weekly column for the Scripps Howard News Service. Barnett holds a Ph.D. in political science from Harvard University.