Stage Setter Assessment

11 September 2013
Intermediate Level Education (ILE) Common Core
C100: Foundations
C110: Stage Setter Assessment

Thomas Barnett’s article titled, “It Explains Why We’re Going to War, and Why We’ll Keep Going to War” presents the author’s theories on the relationship between globalization and the risk of U.S. and allied nation involvement with war and conflict. In this context, globalization can easily be defined as technology, a higher level of education, and financial prosperity. The author goes further to define specific areas of world: the Core, the Gap and seam states. The Core consists of many functioning and prosperous countries and continents, for example, North America, parts of South America,
These less developed parts of the world have attracted U.S. military intervention for the past two decades. Historical data reveals a constant and continuous threat by religious extremists and political idealists from Gap countries struggling to obtain prosperity. Barnett also describes a previous assumption that large prosperous countries considered “less included” regions as non-threatening, because they lacked a large-scale military force. But we can never under estimate individuals that are willing to give “life and country” for their cause and beliefs. Furthermore he mentions how the attack on September, 2001 serves as supportive evidence. This devastating event continues to shape our government and influence our defense strategies. It has resulted in the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, military restructuring, and moreover, the launching of the global war on
The boundaries of these regions, including the seam states, are ever changing. With our current state of economic crisis, prosperity can quickly make a turn for the worse, severely impacting a region’s stability. Consequently, we can predict that this de-globalization will ultimately lead to turmoil, conflict, civil war, etc. Which further leads to the problem of controlling the access of terrorist groups into the Core countries through the seam states. This gives the U.S. and other Core or allied countries, the opportunity to provide security forces. This exporting of U.S. security forces to the Gap brings the opportunity to change our military to meet our current needs of deploying in smaller, more independent, and more mobile elements. In addition, as in Operation Enduring Freedom, there is the opportunity to empower the indigenous people, giving them a chance to stand strong against the terror of the