Anglosphere Challenge

Despite 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.

It is very unusual to come across a genuinely new idea or a really original book. But the central thesis of The Anglosphere Challenge—that a new world order based on cultural affinity is evolving in response to the information revolution—is the most original attempt yet to make sense of the post-cold war world. New and original ideas are often strange or unsettling. Yet when Mr. Bennett has finished making his case, it seems the most obvious common sense. In short, this may be the Next Big Idea., The most original foreign policy book of the year . . . James C. Bennett has sketched how the international order might be reshaped by the Internet and the communications revolution—and what allies the United States would have in that new world., James C. Bennett's book leads one on a journey of discovery disguised as a journey of rediscovery. He lends expression to ideas one feels one has always known, but which were never formulated until Bennett put them into words., It is clear that [James C.] Bennett and [Samuel] Huntington have similar conceptions about the core elements of 'Anglo' culture. But for Bennett, the dynamics of this culture, interacting with the global economy and Internet technology, are driving Americans beyond a mere national identity which is limited to the United States to a transnational identity which is grounded in the dense interrelations—the network commonwealth—among the English-speaking nations. The Anglosphere, Bennett foresees, will be the most coherent, advanced, and effective association of nations of any operating and competing within the global economy and the information age. As such, Bennett projects a more expansive and optimistic future for Americans than that provided by Huntington's analysis., The first full-length treatment of the idea [of the 'Anglosphere']—and a powerful one. [Bennett's] book is bound to ratchet up serious discussion of it to an altogether higher level—and bring it to a new and larger audience.

James C. Bennett is a founding director of the non-profit Foresight Institute, which deals with education and research on nanotechnology, and the related Institute for Molecular Manufacturing. He is also a cofounder of The Anglosphere Institute, a non-profit organization conducting policy research and further the concepts of the Anglosphere and the Network Commonwealth. Bennett is an adjunct fellow of The Hudson Institute.