5GW Theory Timeline

An exploration ideas from Thomas P. M. Barnett’s post “The sandwich generations-of-war strategy”, with agreement than the U.S Leviathan helps to keep Old Core and New Core powers from re-inaugurating the era of great 3GW war between powers; i.e., that the U.S. force keeps 3GW power primarily for itself and operates as a closing book-end to 3GW dynamics.

Globalization has become the premiere economic model for the world, as a consequence, by forcing methods other than autarky for organizing economic systems:

The strategic choice isn’t globalization or statism so much as globalization vs. anarchy - and even that failed state chaos contains a corrupt strand of connectivity to the Core. 4GW forces are primarily reactionary movements, regardless of whether they are Nepal’s Maoist guerillas or al Qaida’s neo-Salafi terrorists, trying ” to stand athwart history and yell ‘Halt!’ “

“Offensively shaping the battlespace and…defensively bring the Gap into the light.” — a characterization of the 5GW aspects of Thomas Barnett’s strategy; however, with connectivity comes new dangers:

Vastly increasing the connectivity and transparency of a Gap state also increases the opportunities and parameters for John Robb’s Global Guerillas or superempowered individuals - we can see this in how the Islamist insurgency makes use of, for example, the internet.

Development-in-a-Box is a necessary response to present circumstances:

The threat today to Globalization does not come from Nasserites or Baathists, their ideology is dead, but from apocalyptic Islamism. Reducing the appeal of Islamist extremism with practical improvements and nonzero sum partnership is vital.

Strategy cannot be compartmentalized into separate boxes anymore.

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