The Anglosphere Challenge: Why the English-speaking Nations Will Lead the Way in the Twenty-first CenturyDespite repeated predictions of the demise of America and the English-speaking nations as the world's predominant culture, James C. Bennett believes that this gap will widen in the coming decades. Coining the term anglosphere to describe a loose coalition based on a common language and heritage, Bennett believes that traits common to these countries--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
THE INTERNET ERAAND BEYOND | 9 |
The Singularity | 11 |
Thinking about the Revolutions of Singularity | 12 |
Bounded and Unbounded Visions | 13 |
The Space Development Example | 14 |
Mistaking Bounded for Unbounded Problems | 18 |
Extending Lifespan and the Consequences | 20 |
Taking a Possibility Seriously | 21 |
Evolving New Forms from Existing Elements | 144 |
The Case of Anglosphere Defense Cooperation | 155 |
Who Will Control the Commonwealth? Popular Control of Transnational Institutions | 163 |
Commonwealth or Tribalism | 165 |
Network Commonwealths around the World | 168 |
United Nationsor Associated Commonwealths? | 175 |
THE ANGLOSPHERE AS A UNIQUE CIVILIZATION | 177 |
The Anglosphere Constitutional Tradition and War | 181 |
The Pessimistic Scenario | 23 |
The Next Phase of the information Revolution and Its Implications | 24 |
The Case of Nanotechnology | 27 |
Civil Societies and the Economy of the Singularity | 29 |
The Civic State and the Network Commonwealth | 37 |
Hobbes and Rousseau in Cyberspace | 38 |
Limits to the Breakdown of Big Governments | 40 |
The Growing Worldwide Market in Sovereignty Services and the Decline of the Monopoly of the Economic State | 42 |
The End of Capitalism and the Triumph of the market Economy | 45 |
On the Nature and Limits of Governments in the Era of the Singularity | 53 |
The Power of SelfAssembly Protocols | 59 |
A Tool for the Singularity Revolution | 60 |
A Call for Civilizational Construction | 63 |
THE ANGLOSPHERE AND ITS REVOLUTION | 65 |
The Anglosphere and the New Understanding of the West | 70 |
Why the Information Revolution Is Drawing the Anglosphere Closer Together | 73 |
What Is the Anglosphere? | 77 |
States Regions and Cultural Nations | 80 |
Cultural NationsThe Invisible Understructure | 81 |
Whats the Difference? | 82 |
The Anglosphere Perspective | 87 |
Memetic Plagues of the Anglosphere | 91 |
Coming Home to the Anglosphere | 98 |
TRUST CIVIL SOCIETY GOVERNMENT AND CYBERSPACE | 107 |
One World Through the Internet? The Role of Trust Cooperation and Cultural Commonality | 111 |
Trust and Civil Society | 112 |
Trust Reform and the Three Gateways | 115 |
One World Many Marketplaces | 120 |
Living Simultaneously in Cyberspace and the Physical World | 122 |
Better Communications and the Rise of Nationalism | 124 |
Geopolitics and the Topology of Information Space | 127 |
Hanseatic Leagues in Cyberspace | 130 |
Rules of Thumb for Intervention | 133 |
The AnarchoCapitalist Debate and Other Red Herrings | 136 |
Civic States and largeScale Federations | 139 |
What Will Become of Big Government Establishments? | 139 |
THE CIVIC STATE AND THE NETWORK COMMONWEALTH | 142 |
Union and Secession in the Anglosphere | 189 |
Preserving the National Voice in a Decentralized World | 193 |
The Anglospheres history as the History of Its Cultural Nations | 195 |
The Relationship between Cultural Nations and NationStates | 207 |
North America | 209 |
Cultural Nations Elsewhere in the Anglosphere | 219 |
Regions Civic States and Scale | 220 |
THE ANGLOSPHERE CENTURY | 223 |
Divergence and the End of the First Empire | 224 |
The Dilemma of the Second Empire | 226 |
Potential Roadblocks to an Anglosphere Network Commonwealth | 229 |
Postimperial Identity Questions in the Commonwealth States | 233 |
American Africans the Caribbean and Africa | 234 |
Embedded Cultures native Nations and PanAnglosphere Minorities | 236 |
Uses of the Network Commonwealth | 238 |
Constitutional Traditions and the Technologies of the Singularity | 244 |
harmony without Homogenization | 246 |
The Anglosphere Debate | 247 |
Moving toward an Anglosphere Network Commonwealth | 253 |
Devolution and the Neverendum in Scotland and Quebec | 254 |
The Stalled Transition to High Trust | 257 |
Prospects for the Anglosphere | 259 |
Canada and Le Projet Trudeau | 260 |
Two Nations and Two Network Civilizations | 262 |
Scotland and the West Lothain Question the Euro and the Westphalian Questions | 264 |
From PostCold War Reorientation to the Challenge of the Singularity | 270 |
What Form of Union? | 273 |
Identity in Oceania | 274 |
What Price the EU? | 276 |
Trade and Defense Drivers for the Network Commonwealth | 279 |
The Anglosphere as the Offshore Island | 281 |
The Anglosphere and the Challenge of the Singularity | 283 |
ANNOTATING BIBLIOGRAPHY | 287 |
INDEX | 317 |
333 | |
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Common terms and phrases
ability African Americans alliance anarcho-capitalism Anglo Anglosphere nations Anglosphere Network Commonwealth areas Atlantic slave trade Australia become benefits Britain British Canada Canadian century challenges characteristics civic civil society coherent common constitutional Continental cooperation costs create cultural nations defense democracy democratic discussion distinct Dixie economic effective emerging Empire England English English Civil War English-speaking nations entities Europe European Euroskeptic existing federal glosphere Greater New England high-trust cultures identity immigrants individuals Industrial Industrial Revolution Information Revolution institutions Internet Ireland Irish issues language Linux low-trust cultures memetic ment Midland America military NAFTA narrative nation-state NATO network civilization network commonwealth nomic North America organizations particularly Party political population primarily problems programs Quebec regional secession Singularity revolutions slave slavery social sojourner solutions South space strong civil society structures substantial tion trade tradition Union United Kingdom values