Conversations with History: Institute of International Studies, UC Berkeley

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This interview is part of the Institute's "Conversations with History" series, and uses Internet technology to share with the public Berkeley's distinction as a global forum for ideas.

Welcome to a Conversation with History. I'm Harry Kreisler of the Institute of International Studies. Our guest today is Thomas P.M. Barnett, who is a strategic planner, who has worked in national security affairs since the end of the Cold War and has operated his own consulting practice, New Rule Sets Project since 1998. A New York Times best-selling author, Dr. Barnett is a forecaster of global conflict and an expert on military transformation and on issues relating to international security and economic globalization. He is the author of The Pentagon's New Map and a contributing editor to Esquire magazine.

1. Background ... small rural town ... lawyer parents ... Catholic schools ... studying the Soviet Union ... Harvard ... Soviet studies and Trekkism ... effect of the demise of the Soviet Union ... getting the Ph.D.
2. Strategic Analyst ... discovering the nature of the work ... need for practical solutions ... discovering a talent for presentation ... horizontal thinking ... disillusionment with negative approaches
3. Synergy of Ideas and Opportunity ... Naval War College and Cantor Fitzgerald ... a "useless" set of skills ... 9/11 ... helping to define the new questions ... presenting a package
4. Describing the Pentagon's New Map ... dentifying unifying characteristics of volatile regions ... disconnectedness ... transformation of military tasks ... core vs. gap ... the unexpected lesson of nuclear weapons ... misguided focus on China
5. New Model for a Dual Military ... breaking the model of superpower conflict ... return to earlier bifurcation ... "leviathan" and "sys-admin" ... Iraq as the tipping point ... educating the public ... bringing in allies ... allowing globalization to effect positive change
6. Rounding Out the Globalist Vision ... the political dimension ... a private sector affair ... a generous and kind society ... the discipline of foreign indebtedness
7. Conclusion ... enduring value of rule sets ... the American "source code" ... advice for students

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