Comments on: No Disconnectedness?

By: Shenzhen Ren » You want doom and gloom?

Shenzhen Ren » You want doom and gloom? — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 10:06:49 +0000

[...] do not function, the economy a wreck, and exports are non-existent. These places are already security black holes, and its only going to get worse as their populations explode. This population growth will put an [...]

By: nykrindc

nykrindc — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 14:44:48 +0000

Guess I should have read the comments first, as I see that others made similar points…

Doh! :)

By: nykrindc

nykrindc — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 14:43:11 +0000

Isn’t what you are talking about what Barnett calls a rule set out of whack, meaning that economic connectivity and technology have gotten ahead of the rule sets that regulate it? That is, connectivity is more about just economic, or trade flows, it encompasses the rule sets that regulate that flow. Hence, when Barnett talks about connectivity, he is talking about connectivity to “good” globalization, meaning the flows and rule sets that govern the Core. That is why he focuses so much on establishing connectivity to export Core rule sets to the Gap. Hence, I think he would very much agree with your conception of the Gap being more than simply a place lacking “Core” properties and being a group within the same network. That said, I think his fault is that many times he just discounts the rule sets and dark connectivity flows in the Gap, and makes it seem as if we are working on a blank slate.

By: Cobb

Cobb — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 19:55:02 +0000

Gap reduction with regard to black networks gets us deeply into investigating the rulesets of war. I see crime as a purposeful disconnectedness to the judicial system, and that criminal bosses are impressing people into soldiery/servitude who might otherwise join the global above board economy. The question is whether or not we can call such people ‘enemy combattants’. For that we might need an international ‘RICO’.

By: A.E.

A.E. — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 07:40:50 +0000

Phil makes some good points here. Joe's point is also salient---it also reminds me of William S. Lind's point about the 4GW purpose of the drug war in his first Marine Corps Gazette article. The question on my mind is how big of a destabilizing role the "Gap" pockets within "Core" countries will have.

By: Phil (Pacific Empire)

Phil (Pacific Empire) — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 07:06:06 +0000

Hey, excellent Naim/Barnett comparison!

I’m not so sure that the Gap is just an alternative network. I think even with “green” globalization it is the nature of the connections that is important, and as we see with resource wars (Nigeria for example) it is often the legitimate economy which can generate grievances and provide incentives to rebel/criminal groups. Completely agree, though, that the quality of connectivity is the problem, rather than the lack of it.

Also worth noting that a certain level of connectivity and infrastructure is required to maintain a civil war. Otherwise it is impossible for combatants to support themselves, obtain arms or even move around the country easily.

By: Joe

Joe — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 20:24:52 +0000

Wow, great writeup. But I think “B” could just as easily be any big city in the US or Western Europe. When you look at the pockets of Gap existing in the Core countries, it’s often because of a Gap influence manifesting itself in the Core: cocaine in the US, Islamic fundamentalism in Europe.

By: Frontierist News » Thoughts on Globalization and Thomas Barnett’s Core/Gap Theory

Sun, 18 Feb 2007 18:38:12 +0000

[...] Coming Anarchy [T]he cocaine that sells in the United States for hundreds of times what it costs in Columbia provides a strong incentive to be smuggled. The same goes for weapons, exotic plants and animals and other illegal goods. One could say in a globalized world, goods naturally gravitate to where they can be sold for the highest price, legally or illegally. The same could be said for a Walmart toy produced for pennies in China and sold for 10 times more in the United States. Globalization’s centrifugal effect leads goods, people, money and energy to move to the top of the value chain so to say. Imagine a drop of oil rising to the top of a glass of water. [...]

By: von Kaufman-Turkestansky

von Kaufman-Turkestansky — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 14:30:19 +0000

Interesting visualization. I would say that there are no “pure” core countries in this scheme. The reach of Transnational Organized Crime is well documented in the modern era. Also, almost every country that would be shaded black in this scheme also has some “green”. In some countries, however, the state’s reach is severely limited, and there you have a gap. And there are times when an alternative network becomes a legitimate authority. So it’s complicated.

One comment I could make is that in this framework, it is the criminal justice system that has been a very important player in “core” countries in trying to reduce their “alternative network” elements. By and large, an independant judiciary and criminal justice system that enforce the will of the sovreign state are effective approaches to reducing the alternative network, but the system would have to be more or less robust depending on the state’s relative strength or weakness.

So, effectively, in this model, reducing the “gap” becomes an excercise in supporting state sovreignty, and doing whatever is possible to support an independant and effective criminal justice system.