UnCivilization: Urban Geopolitics in a Time of Chaos

Major New ISSA Book to Launch in October 2012:

The International Strategic Studies Association (ISSA) will, in mid-October 2012, work with a number of other prestigious institutions to launch the ground-breaking new book, UnCivilization: Urban Geopolitics in a Time of Chaos, by ISSA President Gregory Copley.

This broad-reaching philosophical work, specifically addressing the emerging global situation, asks — and answers — the questions: When do civilizations begin ... and end? And how? Is this what we are witnessing as the 21st Century matures? And as a totally new global architecture presents us with an unrecognizable world?

What does it all mean for the stability of nation-states, the prosperity of societies, the way we live and wage wars over the coming decades?

UnCivilization: Urban Geopolitics in a Time of Chaos outlines how we are already entering an age in which global population levels will begin to decline substantially,
even as urbanization and economically- and security-driven trans-national migration gather pace. Population decline and movement patterns are also intersecting with
economic, scientific, and power projection patterns, while urban social attitudes — the politics of urban societies — have created a revolutionary new political, social, and strategic reality.

The book notes: This really is an entirely new game. It’s time to learn the rules.

The book, which will sell for US$32.50, will appear in hardcover format as well as in e-book format. The 26 chapters (plus Preface) cover geopolitics (and particularly the evolution of urban social geopolitics), strategic energy patterns, emerging power structure shifts, future battlefield issues, cyber warfare, strategic logistics, intelligence, strategic information models, and much more. The chapter titles are:

Preface: Venturing Into an Uncivilized World

I. UnCivilization: Why the Emerging “Age Between the Powers” Offers Uncertainty and Opportunity

II. We Are All Strangers in a Strange Land

III. Flying With Confidence Into Change

IV. Flying With Black Swans

V. The Lemming Syndrome and Modern Human Society

VI. The Age of Terrorism Ends, Yet Terror Lives!

VII. Fear and Uncertainty Have Paths of Their Own

VIII. The New Geopolitics of Urban Societies

IX. Why Urban Societies Place Themselves at Risk

X. The Thinning Crowds: How and Why Population Decline and Movement Will Re-Shape the Strategic Equation

XI. When Does Size Matter? The Positive and Negative Aspects of Scale in the Strategic Impact of Population Size

XII. The Emerging Shape of the World

XIII. The Wave Breaks, and the Age of Globalization Passes

XIV. “Urban Man” is Now “Energy Man”

XV. Heartlands, Rimlands, and Oceans: a New Age

XVI. As the World Changes: Cæsarism by Stealth

XVII. Thus Changes Empire, thus Democracy

XVIII. The Future of Warfare: Why Some of the Next Important Conflicts Will Center on Our Cities, But be Fought in the Countrysides

XIX. The Binary Zimmerman: The historic and wider context of cyber warfare, and why it’s too important to let it be dominated by the technocrats

XX. Can the “Supply Chain” Save Civilization?

XXI. Having a Future in Mind

XXII. Is Chaos Necessary?

XXIII. What is the Information Model for the Coming “Age of Chaos”?

XXIV. Renewal and Revival: A New World

XXV. The World at a Pivotal Point

XXVI. Epilogue: Empires, Like Snow Upon the Desert, Melt Away

More details, including order information, can be found by clicking here. The first edition, linen-bound, will be a limited print-run, meant primarily for ISSA members, so the publishers advise placing orders early to avoid disappointment. The book will also appear in e-book (PDF) format, but will also be released soon in formats for Kindle and Nook readers.

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