The reason European politics have run so far off the rails is precisely due to their lack of real-world responsibility
One of the topics Barnett hits in his talks is that we need to get the other Core countries, not just "England and her former colonies" involved in peace-keeping in places like Iraq.
He mentioned, as he has in his other talks, that when he was in China he told some Chinese honcho that China should send 50,000 peacekeepers to Iraq, and the honcho said, "yes, we should, after all, that's where we get most of our oil, but this isn't a perfect world."
Barnett suggests that the reason we don't get more cooperation is that Bush alienates the ROW (Rest Of the World) with his unilateralism and cowboy rhetoric, which is, of course, exactly the explanation that the ROW gives.
I see it differently. I think it's free-rider-itis. Economists and sociobiologists will both tell you that humans and other animal species will expend the least amount of resources necessary in order to achieve their goals.
I think Barnett would disagree vehemently with the idea that a little bit of isolationism would get the ROW involved in peacekeeping. He agrees it's a problem but not with the solution.
I am not sure he has a solution, but he does think it's one of our biggest problems in growing the Core and shrinking the Gap.
He says the solution will come from the G-20, and that the Pentagon needs to enable it. |
