Bridging the gap between poverty and civil unrest to booming economies and peace requires decisive action and military persistence.

Author Tom Barnett lectured Friday at the UAF Davis Concert Hall on his recent publications and strategies for world peace.

Laced with humor, Barnett discussed global markets as the key to post conflict success and a foundation for global peace.

To convey his strategies, Barnett first divided the world in to two regions. Areas of poverty, civil unrest, dictatorships, and post 9/11 U.S. military involvement were labeled the "Non-Integrated Gap." This equatorial arc, a failed state region, represented the locations of 95 percent of the U.S. troops deployed abroad.

Outside the gap, economically stable areas such as North America, Europe, Russia, East Asia, Australia and parts of South America were defined as the "Functioning Core."

"The first problem is to transition countries from the gap to the core, from instability to stability," Barnett explained in his strategy for world action.

The gap has the potential to be a dynamic region of expanding global economy and the frontier of globalization, Barnett said. By stabilizing governments and connecting countries to the global market, cheap and abundant labor can be utilized helping to build economic stability in gap countries.

"We need to get the military back in business of spreading connectivity," Barnett said. "We have never had a global economy growing by more than 5% a year or had more peace."

However, as globalization spreads, it will inevitably generate conflict, he added.

Addressing tactics for post conflict areas, Barnett proposed linking two strategies, the "Leviathan," a fast and furious, event focused war strategy to obliterate conflicts, and the "Systems Administrator," a continuous and methodical civil affairs, network centered group focused at reconstructing post conflict areas and integrating them into the global market.

Focusing on the importance of post conflict presence, Barnett said, "Do not wage war unless you are ready to wage peace."

Citing the differences between the Kosovo conflict and present day Iraq, Barnett said, in order to establish and preserve peace in post conflict regimes "23 to 25 boots on the ground, per 1000 people," is required. In Kosovo, a strong military presence resulted in minimal casualties, while the absence of a substantial post war force in Iraq resulted in thousands of deaths.

According to this strategy, 20 percent of a war budget would be spent on the kinetics of war, the remaining 80 percent on peacetime control and reintegration into the global community and more importantly the global market.

"I'm pro market," Barnett said. "I've never seen anything but markets build countries."

It is essential to "connect a [post conflict] country to the outside world or else you'll be back in another couple of years," he said.

In Barnett's plan, a new government department, "The Department of Everything Else," is designed to take over from the Department of Defense after the war. This department would facilitate and organize all peace keeping efforts.

The lecture also discussed conflicts and solutions in North Korea, the growth of East Asian countries and the importance of a long term strategic partnership with China.

Over an hour of questions followed the fast paced lecture, raising issue with Alaska's position in the global market, war profiteers, and the establishment of "The Department of Everything Else."

"I think he is right about having a stronger second force, post conflict, but I didn't agree [with] the concept 'The State of Everything Else'," said Lilly DeWilde, an undergraduate UAF student. "He made it sound so simple, and I don't think [post war problems] can be solved that easily."

Trevor Debois, a senior political science student, said, "I did agree with his idea that economic growth was a system of change, and the mentality of globalization to build up countries, rather than protection, need aid and trade."

Barnett first publishing his ideas in Esquire, following with "The Pentagon's New Map: War and Peace in the Twenty-First Century," a New York Times bestseller and the sequel, "The Pentagon's New Map: Blueprint for Action." Trying to foster public awareness and support for his ideas, Barnett travels the world as a public speaker. He is also a strategic advisor to presidential candidates and countries such as China.

"I spend over 200 nights a year away from home, promoting this idea," Barnett said. "I look at this as a twenty year project."