Thomas P.M. Barnett

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Blurbs from the Uncorrected Manuscript [UM] and Hard Cover [HC] "on the work of Thomas P.M. Barnett"

Yaneer Bar-Yam, President, New England Complex Systems Institute

  • "Thomas Barnett is an original and wide-view thinker who has a message that can inform everyone and elevate the discussion of global security." [UM]

Vice Admiral Arthur K. Cebrowski, USN (my former boss as the college and at the Office of the Secretary of Defense)

  • "Dr. Barnett's work puts him in the same class as the great and powerful minds that crafted America's post-World War II strategy and created the institutions that brought stability and prosperity to the Free World." [HC]
  • "Like them, he develops a formulation crossing all sector boundaries: political, economic, cultural, religious, security.  But unlike them, he leaves behind containment and offers instead a hopeful and eager embrace characteristic of America at her best.  He has provided a useful strategic context for the continuing process of transforming our national security structures and capabilities.  As a former president of the Naval War College, I feel confident is saying that policy makers who act on this work will not go far wrong." [UM]

Dr. Donald C.F. Daniel, Professor, Security Studies Program, School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University

  • "In a manner analogous to Samuel Huntington's argument on the 'clash of civilizations' and to Robert Kagan's on the state of U.S. and European relations, Thomas Barnett offers a sweeping vision of global trends as he addresses the international role for U.S. military forces.  Barnett did not spark the debate about the U.S. military's role—the Bush administration did that with its pronouncements and actions—but he frames the issues within which the administration's policies actions can be evaluated." [UM]
  • "Too rarely does it happen that someone writes a book that so crystallizes a major argument that it becomes a focal point in a broader debate.  Those who would either support or criticize the administration must address its elements it they are to participate productively in the debate." [HC]

Dr. Paul. B. Davis, national security expert, Washington D.C. (professor at National Defense University)

  • "Thomas Barnett's approach to enhancing the management perspectives of institutional leaders from all disciplines has proven infectious.   I lecture often and facilitate executive workshops on the demands for transformational approaches to our uncertain future.  Whether it be with the leadership of the GAO, OMB, or the military's Joint Forces Command, I never miss an opportunity to introduce and build on Barnett's groundbreaking work." [UM]
  • "Barnett's book should be as instrumental for executive leaders as Friedman's The Lexus and the Olive Tree." [HC]

Dr. R.  Joseph DeSutter, national security expert, Washington, D.C. (National Defense University professor)

  • "A grand theory of modern international conflict.  From a technology standpoint, Defense Transformation has been embraced by two administrations and accepted across defense circles for over a decade.  On the policy side, there is also a consensus that breathtaking twenty-first century technological opportunities are among the keys to America's post-bilateral national security.  Without wasting our time on these settled issues, Barnett employs a Mahanian-type geopolitical approach to help us understand the implications of this policy-technology relationship.  The resulting bold global rationale invites a new vein of debate toward essential but missing pieces of the future security puzzle.  Thomas Barnett gives us an overdue framework that goes way beyond commercial analogies to serious questions of policy, strategy, and security." [UM]

Esquire (David Granger, Editor-in-Chief)

  • "Since the end of the Cold War, the United States has been trying to come up with an operating theory of the world.  Now there's a leading contender." [UM]
  • "Barnett puts the world in context." [HC]

John Gallo, Senior Associate, Charles River Associates, Aerospace & Defense Practice

  • "A must read for senior-level executives in the defense industry.  Barnett's work applies a systematic approach to add order to an otherwise complex set of issues.  More important, it makes strategic recommendations for international and defense policy that have clear implications to the ongoing transformation of the defense base." [UM]

Sherri Goodman, Senior Fellow, The CNA Corporation, and former Deputy Undersecretary of Defense

  • "His work should be read not only by policy makers and pundits, but by anyone who wants to understand how the world works in the Age of Terror." [HC]

Peter Ho, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Defense, Singapore

  • "Professor Thomas Barnett provides a framework to better understand a phenomenon that has been more talked about than understood.  Globalization is important and deserves study, not only because of its macro global effects, but also because of its local effects." [UM]

Gary Clyde Hufbauer, Reginald Jones Senior Fellow, Institute for International Economics

  • "Barnett's special talent is his dual mastery of defense strategy and global economics.  His worldview has already shaped thinking in the top echelons of the Pentagon and CIA.  Barnett's voice promises to define U.S. military and economic strategy for combating threats that will confront the United States over the next two decades, perhaps beyond.   These threats emerge from the sixty-odd desperate countries that constitute Barnett's 'Gap,' and provide the cradle for genocide and terror.  Whatever happens in U.S. relations with China, Japan, the European Union, and Russia, these new threats will require special U.S. attention.  Barnett points the way . . . The Pentagon's New Map promises to be an exciting and influential book, alongside Special Providence (Mead), Clash of Civilizations (Huntington), and The Ends of Earth (Kaplan)." [UM]

Jerry MacArthur Hultin, Dean, Howe School of Technology Management, Stevens Institute of Technology; and former Under Secretary of the Navy

  • "Tom Barnett breaks the rules to create new rules, and in doing so, he see the future without the fog that obscures most analysts.  Tom was an essential ally to me, as Under Secretary of the Navy, is crafting high-value breakthroughs for some of the most intractable national security problems facing our country."

Thomas Ivancie, President, America's Future Foundation

  • "Incisive and exciting.  Thomas Barnett is the one-stop shop for policy types looking to know where and how America will be engaged overseas in the century to come." [UM]

Dave Lassek, Vice President Naval Programs, United Defense

  • "Professor Barnett's presentations on the global geopolitical environment provide the most insightful analysis of the forces that stress the world's economies and the political implications that result.  His thoughts and analysis in book form should serve as a primer for anyone involved in the global marketplace.  This will become a basic tool for anyone performing environmental assessments, strategic planning, or even direct marketing." [UM]

Dr. Lawrence Modisett, national security expert, Newport, Rhode Island (my boss at the college; this is an actual lift from a recent personnel review)

  • "Thomas Barnett has emerged as one of the most influential strategic thinkers in the U.S. and beyond.   The currency his ideas have gained, his credibility in senior quarters within and outside the government, and the continuing evolution of his concepts guarantee that he will remain a leading influence on U.S. strategy." [UM]

C. Kenneth Morrelly, President, Long Island Forum of Technology

  • "In his work, Dr. Barnett arranges a complex set of global conditions in an intuitive manner such that his audiences become directly and totally absorbed with its context.  The result of his methodology, which logically intertwines facts, develops hypotheses and then validates them, mixed with humor, is that he is able to take a complex subject—the nexus between national security and globalization—and make it extraordinarily accessible.  In short, he's able to provide an overview of global change that helps business leaders understand better how their companies must adapt in order to survive in this complex international environment.  As a corporate executive, I can say that being exposed to his thinking was a powerful and useful experience for me." [UM]

Robert Orr, Vice-President and Washington Director, Council on Foreign Relations

  • "Barnett's work is a tour de force.  I have never seen such a persuasive presentation linking defense policy and globalization analyses." [HC]

John Petersen, President, The Arlington Institute

  • "Thomas Barnett is one of the most thoughtful and original thinkers that this generation of national security analysts has produced." [HC]

William J. Raduchel, Ph.D., former CTO, AOL Time Warner, and former chief strategy officer, Sun Microsystems

  • "You may not like the conclusions, but the logic is flawless.  We do live in a new world, and Barnett's analysis lays bare the realities we face as a nation." [UM]
  • "If you are an investor, an executive, or a citizen—meaning everyone—you need to understand this worldview." [HC]

Dr. Peter Schoettle, Senior Staff, Center for Public Policy Education, The Brookings Institution

  • "Confused about the multitude of seemingly disparate events around the globe?  Wondering if there are any connections among U.S.-China relations, the price of light Saudi crude, and cocaine runners in Latin America?  Intrigued by what distant financial crises may mean for U.S. defense policy?  Professor Thomas Barnett's innovative insights and cogent analysis make sense of much of the current world." [UM]
  • "You will be amazed at the lightbulbs that will go off in your own mind as you read his work." [HC]

Asif M. Shakh, President and CEO, International Resources Group Ltd

  • "Carefully researched and brilliantly argued, it pulls together information that previously has been dispersed, and reaches dramatic new conclusions . . . I may not agree with all the conclusions he reaches, but Barnett has changed the debate in ways that are fundamental, energizing, and ultimately positive." [UM]
  • "Whatever side of the debate you are on, this book is a must read.  Barnett is one of the rare thinkers who combine the scholarship, energy, and imagination to put forward a truly 'new paradigm.'" [HC]

Rear Admiral Joseph C. Strasser, USN (ret.), former President, Naval War College

  • "Thomas Barnett has undertaken the challenge of exploring ongoing globalization and identifying those countries and regions that are actively participating in this process as the functioning core, as well as those areas that are disconnected from the core and its rule sets and norms that bind nations together.  He offers a road map to engage those dangerously disconnected in the globalization process.  Barnett goes where others have not been.  His work should be required reading for those actively concerned with international security and world order." [UM]

Mac Thornberry, U.S. House of Representatives (R, Texas)

  • "Barnett is one of our most provocative and cutting-edge thinkers about national security issues.  His work is extremely important as members of Congress and other policy makers think about our nation's security in the twenty-first century." [HC]
  • "He sees the big picture and how the pieces of day-to-day events fit into it.  You may disagree, but you'd better not ignore what he has to say." [UM]

Stewart Umpleby, professor of management science, George Washington University

  • "Thomas Barnett regularly briefs very high-ranking government officials in Washington, D.C.  For several years, he has been one of the leading figures in defining a new global strategic doctrine for the United States in the post-Cold War period.  If you want to know what the president, vice-president, and secretaries of state and defense are thinking, read this book." [UM]

Dr. Michael Vlahos, Senior Professional Staff, The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory; former Director, Security Studies Program, The Johns Hopkins University Nitze School of Advanced International Studies; and former Director, Center for the Study of Foreign Affairs, U.S. Department of State

  • "Barnett gives us a quintessentially American vision of our future in the grand tradition of Dewey and James: pragmatic, optimistic, exuberant, compassionate.  It is a refreshing contrast to the mind-numbing screeds of scholars, naysayers, and policy wonks!" [UM]

Vice Admiral Thomas R. Weschler, USN (ret.), former Director of Logistics, Joint Staff; ballistic missile guidance expert; and coordinator of the destroyer and nuclear cruiser programs

  • "Professor Barnett takes the vital theme that military and economic strategy are convergent, and uses it to show how the two fields of strategy not only coexist but significantly reinforce each other.  It is clear that the two areas are independent at their peril!  The total approach is masterfully developed, logically explained, and clearly exhibited.  The New Rule Set and its application have to be part of the thinking man's lexicon now." [UM]

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