Blueprint for Action: A Future Worth Creating

If the author's name sounds familiar, or part of the title of Blueprint for Action, it's because THE PENTAGON'S NEW MAP was a NewYork Times bestseller with its cutting analysis of war, peace, and international relations. Blueprint for Action: A Future Worth Creating continues where the prior book left off, comes from a senior advisor and military analyst, and discusses possible short- and long-term scenarios for relations with countries from Iran and Iraq to China and North Korea. It charts a possible course through a confusing world of political interrelationships and will prove a top pick not only for college-level political science holdings, but for the general-interest readers concerned with modern world political affairs. Diane C. Donovan California Bookwatch

A few months ago, I offered a review of Barnett's landmark book, "The Pentagon's New Map." http://whiterhinoreport.blogspot.com/2006/03/understanding-age-of-terror-review-of.html In his latest offering, Barnett takes the logical next step in offering scenarios and a roadmap for how we might go about fashioning what he calls "a future worth creating." What I like best about Barnett's writing is the fact that he communicates complex ideas clearly and succinctly - without "dumbing down" his arguments and chain of reasoning. I found this book fascinating and very encouraging in terms of how the U.S. as a nation can lead the way in fashioning a 21st century world that shrinks the gap between the "haves and have nots" - and more to the point - between the "connected and the disconnected." Given the fact that I do not have a military background, I do not always trust or rely on my own judgment in assessing issues of military or global strategy. Fortunately, I have a number of friends who have had long and distinguished military careers, and I often use them as sounding boards to provide me with reality checks. As I was finishing up reading, "Blueprint for Action," I had breakfast with Stan Genega, a West Point graduate who retired as a Major General in the U.S. Army. As I was seeking Stan's reaction to some of Barnett's groundbreaking and often iconoclastic ideas, I said: "From my vantage point as a lay person, I can find no flaw in Barnett's reasoning, logic, interpretation of the facts or prescriptive recommendations." Gen. Genega responded, in essence, by saying: "I agree; I cannot find any flaws in his logic or analysis." Halfway through this book, I discovered a passage that clearly expresses Barnett's rationale for writing this book, and explains the bridge between "The Pentagon's New Map," and this sequel. The context of the following quotation is that Barnett is describing the overwhelming response he received when C-Span broadcast a PowerPoint briefing that is the essence of "The Pentagon's New Map": "At first, you are kind of embarrassed with gratitude expressed on that level. I mean, you feel as though you found someone's wallet and nothing more. But over time, as I got more familiar with the emotions being expressed, I began to realize why it was so crucial to move beyond the first book's broad diagnostic approach to this volume's far greater focus on prescriptions - a plan of action. Eventually, that buzz wears off . . . Well, you can't just leave people hanging like that. You just can't get them all jacked up with no place to go. When people say they're a `convert' or `sold,' you'd better have a better comeback than just `That's nice to hear.' Moreover, your vision of the future can't just be some splendid description of a world they've got little hope of actually visiting. No, it needs to seem familiar enough that they can imagine themselves not just living there but also actually making the journey. The tale should be heroic, all

After reading the reviews of The Pentagon's New Map (although I have not read the book itself), I was anxious to read Barnett's second book for implementing the ideas from his first book, especially now that they have been tested and revised by countless interviews, reviews and military briefings. Barnett does not disappoint. Blueprint For Action is the most original, outside-the-box, out-on-a-limb position I have heard in a very long time. Whether you think his ideas will work or not, I highly recommend reading it because it suggests new ways of thinking about politics, war and our friends and enemies. It's refreshing to see someone, as noted by another reviewer, who doesn't spout Democratic or Republican dogma, but goes off on his own. Personally, I think it makes a lot of sense, in most areas, and we'd be a lot better off if our leaders adopted these strategies (which it sounds like they may be starting to). Some reviewers seem to get hung up on some facet of his book: "One part of his 400+ page book might be wrong" (gasp!), but if you are going to develop a blueprint for American strategy for the next few decades, who is not going to be wrong on some points? Another criticism I've read of Barnett is that he paints a rosy picture of how the world a priori is going to get better. He doesn't. He repeatedly hedges his vision, stating that there are many opportunities for derailment. (Otherwise, you wouldn't really need his book to help avoid them.) After seeing our country blunder into many nation-building exercises since the end of the Cold War, with or without a antecedent war, it's not a question of whether we want to or will get involved with future nation-building, it seems to be a matter of how we do it. Better to have a plan, a system, like Barnett uses or someone else with long-term vision, rather than a half-hazard, poorly thought out one that both Clinton and George W. have used in Yugoslavia, N. Korea, Iraq, etc. A must read for anyone interested in where our country should be going in the next decade.

I was first introduced to Barnett's work with the famous PowerPoint presentation on C-Span. I then picked up The Pentagon's New Map. I've lent out both the DVD of the presentation and the book several times. I believe it's a must read for anyone who wants to fully understand just what the heck is going on in the post-9/11 world. Blueprint for Action is the follow-up to PNM and in many ways is a response to feedback that the presentation and book inspired. If PNM was the answer to "what the heck is going on" then BFA is the answer to "why the heck are we doing this anyway?" But most impressively, the "why" Barnett gives us is not some doom and gloom of what needs to be avoided, but what glory can be achieved. Barnett is joy to read as a writer, especially since many of his contemporaries like to bog down their works with a lot of jargon and 50-cent words that can alienate the average reader. Barnett needs no such tricks to make his work impressive. Audacious and bold by its very nature, BFA not only gives the big picture view of "where do we go from here?" but delights readers with glib analogies and (often biting) humor along the way: "I ended up lecturing at both Beijing University and the China Reform Forum, the think tank of the Central Party School in Beijing... One Chinese professor went so far as to say that since my work could never be received well in America but would naturally be understood in China, I should quit my job... to engage in the formulation of grand strategy for the Chinese, who, he noted, had more than enough grand strategic issues to deal with right now!... My reply to this intriguing offer was to say that if these reformers felt they had their hands full explaining the Theory of Peacefully Rising China to the world, imagine how busy I was trying to explain my Theory of Benevolently Warring America!" (pp 138-140) What I think I like best about Barnett's work, however, is that his grand strategy has practical application. He doesn't get stuck or lost describing only one part of the elephant. He truly sees the whole animal of political, economic, military, cultural connections across the globe and, with accuracy, can say `if you do this action, you'll get this result.' He isn't seeing situations just from the American side, or the military side, or the Wall Street side. He puts the reader in the other guy's shoes (well, if you were being approached like this, wouldn't you react the same way too?) and draws on our own history to show just how those situations played out last time. Barnett not only gives us "A Future Worth Creating," but shows us that he knows how to navigate from here and now to there and then. If you want a useful, realistic hope for the future, this is the book to read.

It is rare that I read something truly original in the realm of foreign policy. Every two months, I get a new Foreign Affairs, where the lefty academics will come out of their ivory towers to tell us the world is America's fault, the right will tell us that we're the biggest nation on earth we should take avantage of it, while others tell us in 20/20 hindsight what we should have done. Thomas Barnett's first book was truly original, and pure genius. This book puports to be a blueprint for how to implement the things discussed in the first book. While I found myself disagreeing, it still forced me to thing about our foreign policy in new and interesting ways. Like what if China was a trust ally? Anyways, I reccommend the book for anyone interested in our foreign policy in this post-Cold-War,post 9/11 era. [...]