The global village myth : distance, war and the limits of power / Patrick Porter.

Includes bibliographies and index.

Introduction : strife in the village -- So near, so far : physical and strategic distance -- Wars for the world : the rise of globalism: 1941, 1950, 2001 -- Lost in space : Al Qaeda and the limits of netwar -- Access denied : technology, terrain and the barriers to conquest -- Wide of the mark : drones, cyber and the tyrannies of distance -- Conclusion : the geopolitics of hubris.

Porter challenges the powerful ideology of "Globalism" that is widely subscribed to by the US national security community. Globalism entails visions of a perilous shrunken world in which security interests are interconnected almost without limit, exposing even powerful states to instant war. Globalism does not just describe the world, but prescribes expansive strategies to deal with it, portraying a fragile globe that the superpower must continually tame into order. Porter argues that this vision of the world has resulted in the US undertaking too many unnecessary military adventures and dangerous strategic overstretch. Distance and geography should be some of the factors that help the US separate the important from the unimportant in international relations. The US should also recognize that, despite the latest technologies, projecting power over great distances still incurs frictions and costs that set real limits on American power. Reviving an appreciation of distance and geography would lead to a more sensible and sustainable grand strategy.

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