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The Twelve-Step
Recovery Program For American Grand Strategy
from
GREAT POWERS:
America
and the World after Bush
By Thomas
P. M. Barnett
1. ADMIT THAT WE AMERICANS
ARE POWERLESS OVER GLOBALIZATION.
2. COME TO BELIEVE THAT
ONLY A BIPARTISANSHIP FAR GREATER THAN THAT DISPLAYED BY OUR NATIONAL
LEADERS CAN RESTORE SANITY TO AMERICA'S FOREIGN AFFAIRS.
3. MAKE THE DECISION TO
COORDINATE ALL ELEMENTS OF AMERICA'S NATIONAL POWER ACCORDING TO A
GRAND STRATEGY THAT WE HAVE COLLECTIVELY DEFINED.
4. MAKE A SEARCHING AND
FEARLESS MORAL INVENTORY OF THE "GLOBAL WAR ON TERROR."
5. ADMIT TO THE WORLD AND
TO OURSELVES THE EXACT NATURE OF OUR MISTAKES IN IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN.
6. WE ARE ENTIRELY READY
TO WORK WITH THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY TO REMOVE THE DEFECTS OF WARTIME
INJUSTICE.
7. HUMBLY ASK THE INCOMING
PRESIDENT TO REVERSE AMERICA'S RECENT UNILATERALISM.
8. MAKE A LIST OF ALL THE
GREAT POWERS WHOSE NATIONAL INTERESTS WE HAVE HARMED, AND BECOME WILLING
TO MAKE CONCESSIONS TO THEM ALL.
9. MAKE DIRECT OVERTURES
TO VIOLENT NONSTATE ACTORS WHENEVER POSSIBLE, EXCEPT WHEN DOING SO WOULD
DAMAGE EXISTING ALLIANCES.
10. CONTINUE TO REVIEW OUR
GOAL OF ACCELERATED DEMOCRATIZATION AND, WHEN WE ARE WRONG IN OUR STRATEGIC
APPROACH, PROMPTLY ADMIT IT.
11. SEEK TO CREATE STRATEGIC
ALLIANCES WITH RISING POWERS THROUGH DIPLOMATIC LINKAGES AND MILITARY-TO-MILITARY
COOPERATION.
12. HAVING HAD A STRATEGIC
AWAKENING AS THE RESULT OF THESE STEPS, AMERICA MUST TRY TO SELL THIS
GRAND STRATEGY TO THE WORLD, AND PRACTICE THESE PRINCIPLES IN ALL ITS
EFFORTS TO SHRINK THE GAP AND MAKE GLOBALIZATION TRULY GLOBAL.
From GREAT POWERS, to be published by G. P. Putnam's on February 5, 2009. 
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