Blueprint for Action : A Future Worth Creating

Blueprint for Action : A Future Worth Creating Thomas P.M. Barnett Date: 20 October, 2005   —   $17.79   —   Book product page Rating:

I use those little colored 3M tabs to mark significant passages. My copy of Barnett's new book -- like his last one, "The Pentagon's New Map" -- has a thick, fall-colored forest of flappy fringe on it. He writes significant books.

Barnett's first book dealt mostly with his vision of "a future worth creating" and how the Pentagon and the military must reinvent themselves to deal with globalization, terrorism, and rogue states. I totally agree with the vision, and his suggestions for military reform jibe with the situation as I see it. But his new book is a little more challenging.

In "Blueprint for Action", Barnett details how the civilian side of the government needs to change. Barnett makes the point that these changes are inevitable, but they'll be easier to handle if we face them proactively rather than having them forced upon us by a series of crises. Some of the more perceptive changes are:

• Homeland defense is the modern version of the Maginot Line. The civil affairs expertise that resides in the Department of Homeland Security would be better used abroad to stabilize Gap nations and bring them into the Core (Barnett has a useful lexicon to describe his ideas, it's worth learning -- here's a short primer).


• We need to realize that China will be an invaluable ally in stabilizing and shrinking the Gap. We should "lock in China at today's prices".


• We need a NATO for Asia that includes China and India.


• We should get rid of our propaganda initiatives -- either America is a country to be emulated, or it's not.

Barnett also makes a couple arguments that I completely disagree with. For example, he believes Iran is a necessary security partner in the Middle East -- which I can buy into -- but he also believes that an Iranian nuke is both inevitable and a good thing as long as we get guarantees of security cooperation. I think an Iranian nuke is neither inevitable nor good.

Aside from a couple things like that (did I mention this book is a bit of a challenge?), Barnett is right on the money. "The Pentagon's New Map" was a revelation for me in the way it made sense of what's going on in the world and America's role in creating the future, and this new book expounds upon those ideas. My new good rule of thumb when pondering what President Bush and our Congress are doing is to ask whether it helps or hurts our efforts to "shrink the Gap".

Oh, and one of the more interesting sections of the book is Barnett's "Heroes Yet Discovered" chapter, which includes people like:

• The first four-star military police general


• The "Father of Post-Conflict Stabilization and Reconstruction Ops"


• The re-education President (Barnett is a Democrat and believes that globalization is a security issue, so we should encourage it while realizing that displaced American workers must be retrained)


• Russia's "Bill Clinton" who promotes Russia's connectivity with the global economy beyond just oil and gas


• China's "JFK" who asks not what the world can do for China, but rather what China can do for the world


• India's "Margaret Thatcher" who seeks opportunities to demonstrate India's ability to lead security efforts throughout the Indian Ocean rim as an ally of the US.


• The first Arab political leader who leaves office when his legal term ends


• The "Eminem" of Muslim rap

And many more notables who will show up as the world becomes more stable, peaceful, and prosperous. Barnett's "The Pentagon's New Map" is essential reading (I bought the paperback as a Christmas present for my Dad), and. Barnett's new book is also a must-read, though it's a little more challenging than the first.