The anglosphere challenge : why the English-speaking nations will lead the way in the twenty-first century / James C. Bennett.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bennett, James C., 1948-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Civil society--Commonwealth countries.

Civil society.

Democracy--Commonwealth countries.

Democracy.

Science--Political aspects--Commonwealth countries.

Science.

Technology--Political aspects--Commonwealth countries.

Technology.

Politics and government.

Technology--Political aspects.

Science--Political aspects.

Commonwealth countries--Politics and government.

Commonwealth countries.

Physical Description:

xii, 337 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Lanham, Md. : Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, [2004]

Summary:

Coining the term anglosphere to describe a loose coalition based on a common language and heritage, James C. Bennett believes that traits common to America and other English-speaking nations--a particularly strong and independent civil society; openness and receptivity to the world, its people, and ideas; and a dynamic economy--have uniquely positioned them to prosper in a time of dramatic technological and scientific change. In a wide-ranging exploration back to the Industrial Revolution and into the future, The Anglosphere Challenge gives voice to a growing movement on both sides of the Atlantic.

Contents:

Three Questions about the Future: Answers from the Past 2

1 The Internet Era-and Beyond 9

Beyond the Information Revolution: The Singularity 11

Thinking about the Revolutions of the Singularity 12

Bounded and Unbounded Visions 13

Bounded and Unbounded Problems: The Space Development Example 14

Y2K as the Opposite Case: Mistaking Bounded for Unbounded Problems 18

Death and Taxes: Extending Lifespan, and Its Consequences 20

Taking a Possibility Seriously 21

How to Think about the Effects of These Revolutions: The "Pessimistic Scenario" 23

Industrial Goods as Software: The Next Phase of the Information Revolution, and Its Implications 25

Civil Society and the Hazards of the Singularity Revolutions: The Case of Nanotechnology 29

Civil Societies and the Economy of the Singularity 31

After the Economic State: The Civic State and the Network Commonwealth 39

Hobbes and Rousseau in Cyberspace 40

Limits to the Breakdown of Big Governments 42

The Growing Worldwide Market in Sovereignty Services and the Decline of the Monopoly of the Economic State 44

Linux as a Foreshadowing of the Economics of the Singularity: The End of Capitalism and the Triumph of the Market Economy 47

The Civic State: On the Nature and Limits of Governments in the Era of the Singularity 55

Building the Network Commonwealth: The Power of Self-Assembly Protocols 61

Political Self-Assembly Protocols: A Tool for the Singularity Revolution 62

A Call for Civilizational Construction 65

2 The Anglosphere and Its Revolutions 67

The Anglosphere and the New Understanding of the West 72

Reconvergence and Culture: Why the Information Revolution Is Drawing the Anglosphere Closer Together 75

What Is the Anglosphere? 79

The Fundamental Structures of the Anglosphere: States, Regions, and Cultural Nations 82

Cultural Nations-The Invisible Understructure 83

Cultural Nations and Regions: What's the Difference? 84

Becoming a Self-Aware Civilization: The Anglosphere Perspective 89

Memetic Plagues of the Anglosphere 93

Coming Home to the Anglosphere 100

3 Trust, Civil Society, Government, and Cyberspace 109

One World through the Internet? The Role of Trust, Cooperation, and Cultural Commonality 113

Trust and Civil Society 114

Trust, Reform, and the Three Gateways 117

One World, Many Marketplaces 122

The New Amphibians: Living Simultaneously in Cyberspace and the Physical World 124

Better Communications and the Rise of Nationalism 126

Space and Power: Geopolitics and the Topology of Information Space 129

Hanseatic Leagues in Cyberspace 132

The New Understanding of the Market: Rules of Thumb for Intervention 135

The Anarcho-Capitalist Debate and Other Red Herrings 138

Civic States and Large-Scale Federations 141

Coherent Noncontiguous States 142

What Will Become of Big Government Establishments? 143

4 The Civic State and The Network Commonwealth 146

The Sinews of the Network Commonwealth: Evolving New Forms from Existing Elements 148

Trade, Security, and Technology Intersect: The Case of Anglosphere Defense Cooperation 159

Who Will Control the Commonwealth? Popular Control of Transnational Institutions 167

Commonwealth or Tribalism 169

Network Commonwealths around the World 172

United Nations-or Associated Commonwealths? 179

5 The Anglosphere as a Unique Civilization 181

The Anglosphere Constitutional Tradition and War 185

Five Civil Wars: Union and Secession in the Anglosphere 193

Preserving the National Voice in a Decentralized World 197

The Anglosphere's History as the History of Its Cultural Nations 199

American Cultural Nations and Their Histories 199

The Relationship between Cultural Nations and Nation-State 211

Cultural Nations in Actuality: North America 213

Cultural Nations Elsewhere in the Anglosphere 223

Regions, Civic States, and Scale 224

6 The Anglosphere Century 227

1776: Divergence and the End of the First Empire 228

Convergence in Politics: The Dilemma of the Second Empire 230

Potential Roadblocks to an Anglosphere Network Commonwealth 233

Postimperial Identity Questions in the Commonwealth States 237

The African Special Relationship: American Africans, the Caribbean, and Africa 238

Embedded Cultures, Native Nations, and Pan-Anglosphere Minorities 240

What's at Stake: Uses of the Network Commonwealth 242

Controlling Dangers, Maintaining Freedoms: Constitutional Traditions and the Technologies of the Singularity 248

Common Law and Common Markets: Harmony without Homogenization 250

The Anglosphere Debate 251

Moving toward an Anglosphere Network Commonwealth 257

Doing Their Part: Leadership and the Emergence of the Network Commonwealth 257

Devolution and the Neverendum in Scotland and Quebec 258

African America: The Stalled Transition to High Trust 261

Prospects for the Anglosphere 263

Canada and Le Project Trudeau 264

Quebec and the Nine Provinces: Two Nations and Two Network Civilizations 266

Britain: Scotland and the West Lothian Question; The Euro and the Westphalian Question 268

The United States and the Anglosphere: From Post-Cold War Reorientation to the Challenge of the Singularity 274

South Africa: What Form of Union? 277

Australia and New Zealand: Identity in Oceania 278

Ireland: What Price the EU? 280

Trade and Defense Drivers for the Network Commonwealth 283

The Anglosphere as the "Offshore Island" 285

The Anglosphere and the Challenge of the Singularity 287.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 291-320) and index.

ISBN:

0742533328

OCLC:

55019395