As private capital and foreign direct investment continues to dry up throughout the third world, countries near the poverty line will have an even more difficult time providing basic needs: food, shelter, and security. Even advanced countries, such as Brazil, Argentina, and China, face food shortages. Forty-Six million people may be pushed below the poverty line. And no less than Dennis C. Blair, Director of National Intelligence, predicts that many governments in the developing world face political volitilty, even regime change.
Prof. Klare's article is even more interesting when juxtaposed with a speech delivered to the Carnegie Council by Thomas Barnett, the author of the recently published “Great Powers: America and the World After Bush.” Mr. Barnett, with over fifteen years of service in Defense Department, has an interesting way of presenting his ideas. He doesn't mince his words: his presentation is choppy and to the point. Even more interesting are his prescriptions for the future: accelerate globalization, exercise control of cultural content exported to the world, increase transparency, and embrace “cultural separatism.”
Mr. Barnett clearly has a respect for American history. And underlying his argument is the idea that America should act to win back respect throughout the globe. The problem is that Mr. Barnett doesn't address the way in which the economic crisis in enfolding worldwide, and, by neglecting this fact, his argument loses much of impetus. After all, if globalization is getting a bad name for developing countries who believe they've hamstrung by transparency and international aid – how can it be repackaged to win the faith of suspicious trade partners? More importantly, should it?
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