Redefining the Gap 2, Summary



â€œThe Pentagon’s New Mapâ€ is a proposed grand strategy for the United States. Originally developed for the Office of the Secretary of Defense in the wake of September 11th, it is leading to changes in America’s military. It proposes the use of preemption as a normal tool of statecraft, and thus has implications for what wars we fight, what weapon systems we buy, and where we die.

The Pentagon’s New Map (PNM) also includes a geopolitics, a world divided into an â€œOld Functioning Core,â€ a â€œNew Functioning Core,â€ and a â€œNon-Integrating Gap.â€ Different strategies are advocated for these different realms, extending to everything from economics to warfare. However, while quantitative support for this geopolitics is hinted at, Barnett never discusses whether or not the measures he uses actually correlated with his categorization. Nor does he compare the validity of his cartographic schema to other systems.

This study will rectify that.

The literature review on this paper is organized like a funnel, or a pyramid. First, a brief introduction to geopolitics in given. Then, the work of the field’s founders â€“ Kjellen, Mahan, Mackinder, Ratzel, and Spkyman â€“ is discussed. A modern school, the study of the Global North and Global South, is next presented. After that, a continuation of that school known as critical geopolitics is addressed. Last, a form of critical geopolitics â€“ the â€œNew Mapâ€ theory itself â€“ is described and then tested.

Also including are a research design, a bibliography, and an appendix. Following the literature review a research design is presented, which described the proposes tests, the independent variables, and the dependent variables. The research design repeatedly references an appendix which contains the computer code that shall convert raw data into meaningful numbers. Another appendix will also be attached, listing the final values for all the states surveyed. The bibliography shall contain all works cited in this text.

Redefining the Gap, a tdaxp series:
Redefining the Gap 1. Prologue
Redefining the Gap 2. Summary
Redefining the Gap 3. Introduction to Geopolitics
Redefining the Gap 4. First Geopolitical Theories
Redefining the Gap 5. The North and the South
Redefining the Gap 6. Critical Geopolitics
Redefining the Gap 7. The Pentagon’s New Map
Redefining the Gap 8. The Research Design
Redefining the Gap 9. Methods and Operationalizations
Redefining the Gap 10. Limitations and Conclusion
Redefining the Gap 11. Results
Redefining the Gap 12. Bibliography
Redefining the Gap 13. Appendix: Computer Code
Redefining the Gap 14. Appendix: National Codes

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