America's New Map

Three tectonic and inevitable shifts have left the world at a crossroads. North America is poised to either re-emerge as a global leader, or turn back in time, ceding power and influence to competitors. The 21st century unleashed unprecedented changes across the globe—to its climate, to the demographic makeup of its nations, and to the very nature of allegiance in the digital age. With its global influence waning, America must reevaluate its approach to globalization if it wishes to remain a leader. In America’s New Map: Restoring Global Leadership in an Era of Climate Change and Demographic Collapse, Thomas P.M. Barnett, bestselling author of The Pentagon’s New Map: War and Peace in the Twenty-First Century and acclaimed geo-strategist, offers seven throughlines to frame and redefine the ambitions and posture of these United States, setting our Union on a bold-but-entirely-familiar national trajectory. In these pages, Barnett offers a deep, yet accessible dive into the three shifts that have lead us to this point: As climate change ravages countries closest to the equator, global dynamics are shifting from an East-West emphasis to North-South in the greatest geopolitical transformation our world has yet experienced—and the Western Hemisphere is far better positioned to exploit this radical reorientation than the East. Aging demographics worldwide favor more slowly aging nations, including the US, while challenging rapidly aging nations like China, incentivizing countries best to delay that transition by integrating younger, faster-growing populations into their ranks. In combination, these two tectonic forces collide with a third: the exploding consumption of an expanding—and now majority—global middle class, the bulk of whom reside along the increasingly unstable North-South frontier. Taking every variable of these unique circumstances into account, America’s New Map charts a path toward a bigger and better United States. We will all be living in somebody’s world come mid-century—this book tells Americans how to make sure it is one we can recognize as our own.