I read a lot, and I confess to have been among those who “bought in” to the celebrity alarmism of Al Gore, but I never displaced the totality of the threats to Earth for an obsessive focus on carbon emissions. Among the three books I have always recommended that are far more balanced than anything by the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) are:
The corruption of the leaders and the complacency of the West in accepting that corruption is a recurring theme. If the USA does not stop supporting dictators and embracing corruption as part of the “status quo” then no amount of good will or aid will suffice.
General Peter Schoomaker–the same general that gave Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) a proper hearing at the U.S. Special Operations Command, created the first active duty Army Civil Affairs Brigade since WWII, stood up by Col Ferd Irizarry, USA. I personally believe that the theaters commands must become Whole of Government commands, and that Army Civil Affairs Brigade should become the hub for a global Earth Rescue Network that includes all relevant personnel from all eight “tribes” (government, military, law enforcement, academia, business, media, non-profit and non-governmental, and civil society including labor unions, religions and citizen wisdom councils and advocacy groups.
This monograph, commissioned by the Strategic Studies Institute (SSI) had *not* been validated and is offered in draft to avoid delay in sharing the core ideas for enhancing US Army performance in Stabilization & Reconstruction operations. I am *very* interested in having a dialog on this including errors and omissions, and will respond to any comments.
EarthGame is a trademarked representation of the original work of Professor Medard Gabel. Visit his web site by clicking on his photographl, and read his overview of the EarthGame by clicking on the EIN seal.
Superb Overview, A Bright Light Into the Future,April 22, 2008
Don Eberly
I would normally penalize the publisher one star for being lazy about providing basic information using Amazon's excellent digital loading dock.
Here's the part the publisher should have provided:
Foreword: Poverty Reduction in the Age of Globalization
01 Compassion: America's Most Consequential Export
02 Core Elements of Community and Nation-Building: The American Debate
03 The Great Foreign Aid Debate: Stingy or Generous
04 From Aid Bureaucracy to Civil Society: Participation & Partnership
05 Wealth, Poverty, and the Rise of Corporate Citizenship
06 Microenterprise: Tapping Native Capability at the Bottom of the Pyramid
07 The Great Tsunami of 2004 and America's Generosity
08 Conflict or Collaboration: Religion and Democratic Civil Society
09 Understanding Anti-Americanism
10 Civil Society and Nation-Building: Prospects for Democratization
11 Conflict and Reconciliation in the Context of Nation-Building
12 Habits of the Heart: The Case for a Global Civic Culture
13 Roadmap for Bottom-Up Nation-Building in the 21st Century
Although there are omissions and correspondences that are not addressed in this book, which relies on a handful of core readings, I have nothing but admiration for the author's talent, insight, and art in bringing this all together. This one book is easily a substitute for 10-25 other books, and the author communicates some key ideas with discipline.
Highlights for me:
+ Shift from vertical to horizontal power
+ 85% of aid is NOT from governments
+ Key trends include citizen-led development; provision of opportunity instead of charity; and use of electronic devices, notably the cell phone, to counter corruption and the abuse of power (while also increasing individual and group productivity)
+ Propaganda (public diplomacy or strategic communication or covert action media placements and influence operations) DOES NOT WORK. What works is good works for the right reasons.
+ We are in the midst of an association revolution at the same time that corporate citizenship and social responsibility is on the rise.
+ Local ownership and local innovation are the heart of success
+ There is an emerging role for religion and culture that is distinct from the negative role now played by extremists on both sides
+ Anti-Americanism is making US government aid ineffective at same time that door is being left open to non-governmental aid from US sources
+ Goal is to cultivate democratic citizens by creating civil society, which the author reminds us citing Tocqueville, is what actually nurtures citizenship–not state or government directives
+ Capital trapped in poverty far exceed all combined sources of aid
+ Third World is a hot-bed of innovation and small-scale experimentation, and the cell phone is playing a huge role in helping individuals climb out of poverty
+ Pushing democracy before civil society has been established, or before reconciliation and stabilization have been achieved, will not work
+ In next 25 years 31-41 trillion dollars in wealth will become available for philanthropy (or debauchery, but the author is an optimist)
+ In the age of networks collaboration, the concept of sound governance is one that needs development–I thought immediately of a sparse matrix in which various organizations have metrics associated with a specific project, and they strive to turn each from red to yellow to green.
+ 75% of US individual taxpayers did not itemize deductions, this is a huge untapped source of charity–however, while the author focuses on increasing individual donations to intermediaries like the Red Cross, we at Earth Intelligence Network would much prefer to create global range of gifts tables that allow all individuals to opt in at any level ($10 and up) and start peer-to-peer giving on a global scale at the household level of precision.
+ Key trends: from the giant to the small; from the remote to the local; from the bureaucratic to the non-bureaucratic; from the impersonal to the personal; from the compartmentalized to the holistic
+ More key trends: from clientelism to citizenship; from giantism to human scale; from credentialism to capacity building (see EIN's idea for teaching the poor one cell call at a time using global virtual networks of volunteers–they do not need diplomas, they need knowledge on demand); from fragmentation to integration (e.g. must harmonize all twelve policies to eradicate any given threat); from aid bureaucracies to civil society
+ Bottom-line: empower the indigenous and do not pretend you know what they need. It is NOT “on us” to do anything other than practice the Golden Rule and be compassionate and generous.
+ The final section of the book needs to be read in detail but includes ideas such as government becoming a catalyst rather than a supplier (steer not row); achieving a means of tracking (and we hope, orchestrating) government, private and NGO giving, and remittances, which the author feels must be counted.
+ He speaks of a third way that combines conditionality (give us a good legal environment) with anti-corruption (on this point his focus is on mis-direction of aid, not on the Canadian gold company paying a single Colonel to move a village so they can loot billions in gold from the Peruvian commonwealth)
+ Corporate strategic or venture giving is a favorable emerging trend, along with social entrepreneurship and I would add, hybrid enterprises
+ Web-based giving is in its infancy (and still gives control of the money to large organizations with huge staffs–EIN wants to get to P2P Web 3.0 giving that is both point to point and on the record for all to see
The book concludes with 26 suggestions spanning the full eight tribes as I call them (government, military, law enforcement, academia, business, media, NGOs, and civil society) and for this alone you must buy the book or check it out of the library. Solid common sense.
Amazon does not provide a capability to link to lists, so I can only offer a couple of examples in several literatures. If I point to a book you can read my review and find 10 more links there.
I am adding this book to my list of outrageously expensive books that will never become mainstream because the substance of the author has been overwhelmed by the greed of the publisher. This book cost less than a penny a page to produce and received no marketng to speak of.
As a publisher and author myself, I strongly recommend that all authors publish their word in PDF form free online, and also ensure their contract with any publisher includes a not-to-exceed price for a hard or soft cover copy for the publisher.
Amazon allows URLs in the comment section. I now search for books like this on the web rather than paying such an outrageous price. I have sent email to the author encouraging him to identify an online location for a PDF(not necessarily of the book, but of the core ideas). If I receive that, I will post the link as a comment.
I take the Nordics very seriously, both in peace operations and in peace intelligence. They taught me (in Sweden) the importance of what they call Multinational Multiagency, Multidisciplinary, Multidomain Information Sharing (M4IS). In the comment below I provide two links, one to the new book on Peace Intelligence that is being edited by Col Jan-Inge Svensson, the other to the one page portal to Open Source Intelligence which now gives way to Public Intelligence.
Together with C. K. Prahalad's The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty Through Profits (Wharton School Publishing Paperbacks), this book redirected my life. Although I have been an intelligence and operations professional all my life, and spent the last 20 years kicking doors down all over the world to get secret intelligence communities to focus on the 96% of the information they could get legally, ethically, and generally free or at very low cost, I was lacking a strategic frame of reference.
Free Online
This book literally blew my mind into smithereens. Starting with the fact that LtGen Dr. Brent Scowcorft is one of the last adults still standing with his integrity intact, I was moved to the core of my being by the following list, which is in priority order:
I cannot under-state the force with which this list hit me. In combination with Prahalad's book, which makes the point that capitalism is focused on the billion rich with a one trillion marketplace, while the five billion poor represent a FOUR trillion marketplace, I suddenly realized that the Panel had delivered one side of a strategic matrix for creating a prosperous world at peace.
These two books led to my decision to sell my for-profit, OSS.Net, and create, with 23 other co-founders, the Earth Intelligence Network, a 501c3 Public Charity, and to commit myself to being intelligence officer to the poor for the remainder of my life.
I will just list the twelve policies and the eight humanities below, all other information is at EIN, and I do not want to distract from other reviews. This book, this list, is the single most important first step in empowering the collective intelligence of the public to the point that we can eradicate corruption, protect our commonwealths, and achieve a prosperous world at peace.
Twelve policies that must be harmonized at the budget level across all Nations and corporations and foundations, and organizations (this is important because governments are organized as stovepipes–it is lunacy to use up water we don't have to grow grain we do not need to create ethanal with food instead of sugar cane, bacteria, or algae):
01 Agriculture
02 Diplomacy
03 Economy
04 Education
05 Energy
06 Family
07 Health
08 Immigration
09 Justice
10 Security
11 Society
12 Water
The eight humanities (this is important because nothing the US or EU do unless we create, within seven years, an EarthGame that helps these dominant demographics avoid our mistakes:
01 Brazil
02 China
03 India
04 Indonesia
05 Iran
06 Russia
07 Venezuela
08 Wild Cards (e.g. Congo)
There are so many books relevant to all of the above I must point to my lists, but want to list just a couple of future-oriented books here, the last being the first by EIN (free online, but lovely here at Amazon):
Righteous Good SLAM of IPCC Fraud & Intimidation
