Blueprint for Action
By Thomas P. M. Barnett
Putnam Adult (October 20, 2005)
ISBN: 0399153128
Rating – 5 stars
The United States stands at a threshold. It can withdraw
into itself. Or it can seize a moment to forge the most peaceful period in human
history, where war becomes unknown. Thomas P. M. Barnett, a former at the U.S.
Naval War College professor and advisor to the Office of the Secretary of
Defense maps a sweeping vision for the U.S. military in this the sequel to his
influential The Pentagon's New Map..
Barnett argues the U.S. military has a massive doctrinal flaw. It possesses
unrivalled power to win wars. Yet has little ability to win the peace. Take
Iraq. No thought was given to postwar stabilization and reconstruction.
He advocates creating a new Department of Global Security. He foresees it
being tasked with restoring countries after an armed intervention by U.S.
forces. He argues the new department would also work to reduce economic and
social instability in regions of the developing world that currently are
“outside the map.”
Barnett is an original foreign policy thinker. This book answers many of the
questions left hanging with his first. For me, his insights place our foreign
policy in a context I rarely see in my other reading.
Penned by the Pointed Pundit
August 15, 2006
8:50:42 PM
