Blueprint for Action; A Future Worth Creating
New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 2005. First Printing [Stated]. Hardcover. xix, [3], 440, [2] pages. Glossary of Key Terms from The Pentagon's New Map. Notes. Index. Thomas P.M. Barnett (born 1962) is an American military geostrategist. He developed a geopolitical theory that divided the world into "the Functioning Core" and the "Non-Integrating Gap" that made him particularly notable prior to the 2003 U.S. Invasion of Iraq when he wrote an article for Esquire in support of the military action entitled "The Pentagon's New Map" (which would later become the title of a book that would elaborate on his geopolitical theories). The central thesis of his geopolitical theory is that the connections the globalization brings between countries are synonymous with those countries with stable governments and rising standards of living. These countries form the Functioning Core. These regions contrast with those where globalization has not yet penetrated, which is synonymous with political repression, poverty, disease, and conflict. These areas make up the Non-Integrating Gap. Key to Barnett's geostrategic ideas is that the United States should "export security" to the Gap in order to connect those regions with the Core, even if this means long periods of nation-building. More