I want to support having Barnett on Integral Naked. Both the IN members and Barnett would gain from this interaction. Here is some background on Barnett and his work.
Barnett, born in the mid 60s, obtained his Ph.D. at Harvard where he focused on Russian geo-politics. Getting his degree at about the time of the overthrow of the Soviet Union, Barnett ended up working for the Department of the Navy and the Pentagon for 15-20 years. Barnett is married, the father of four children, three biological children and one “Chinese daughter.” Barnett has written two books for the public: The Pentagon’s New Map (2004) and Blueprint for Action (2005). Although he is a Democrat, Barnett is seen more favorably by the neo-conservatives, though no political movement claims him as an agenda-setter.
Why is Barnett of interest to integal thinkers? Barnett is an integral thinker. His analysis of 21st century geo-politics is an integral analysis.
Some of Barnett’s basic ideas: The world is divided into camps. The Core, the group of developed nations, has a high standard of living, an educated citizenry, and will not war against another Core state, because that would be counter-productive. The Gap, commonly referred to as the Third World, is a collection of isolated states, where life is miserable and war is common both within the state and between states.
The Core is Western Europe, the USA, Canada, Japan, Israel, Australia, and New Zealand. The New Core is a collection of states that has almost made it into the club: Mexico, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Eastern Europe, China, India, Pakistan, Russia. The Gap is all the other states.
How Barnett distinguishes the Core from the Gap is essentially the distinction between a state governing from the Blue value meme or below, versus the Orange value meme or above.
Barnett unknowingly agrees with Ken Wilber when he says that the greatest threat to peace is “unconnectedness.” Barnett is referring to states in the Gap having no stake in peace as they gain nothing from it. “Connected” states do gain from peace, since they benefit from trade. Wilber’s way of speaking of this is that what is needed in the world is higher consciousness. Barnett would say more “connectedness.” Both are speaking of the same thing: a world in which there is no reward for war, only for peace.
Lalia