| Description |
420 pages : maps ; 25 cm. |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographic references (pages [379]-403) and index. |
| Contents |
The question of world order : Varieties of world order ; Legitimacy and power -- 1. Europe: the pluralistic international order : The uniqueness of the European order ; The Thirty Years' War: what is legitimacy? ; The peace of Westphalia ; The operation of the Westphalian system ; The French Revolution and its aftermath -- 2. The European balance-of-power system and its end : The Russian enigma ; The Congress of Vienna ; The premises of international order ; Metternich and Bismarck ; The dilemmas of the balance of power ; Legitimacy and power between the world wars ; The postwar European order ; The future of Europe -- 3. Islamism and the Middle East: a world in disorder : The Islamic world order ; The Ottoman Empire: the sick man of Europe ; The Westphalian system and the Islamic world ; Islamism: the revolutionary tide: two philosophical interpretations ; The Arab Spring and the Syrian cataclysm ; The Palestinian issue and international order ; Saudia Arabia ; The decline of the state? -- 4. The United States and Iran: approaches to order : The tradition of Iranian statecraft ; The Khomeini revolution ; Nuclear proliferation and Iran ; Vision and reality -- 5. The multiplicity of Asia : Asia and Europe: different concepts of balance of power ; Japan ; India ; What is an Asian regional order? -- 6. Toward an Asian order: confrontation or partnership? : Asia's international order and China ; China and world order ; A longer perspective -- 7. "Acting for all mankind": the United States and its concept of order : America on the world stage ; Theodore Roosevelt: America as a world power ; Woodrow Wilson: America as the world's conscience ; Franklin Roosevelt and the new world order -- 8. The United States: ambivalent superpower : The beginning of the Cold War ; Strategies of a Cold War order ; The Korean War ; Vietnam and the breakdown of the national consensus ; Richard Nixon and international order ; The beginning of renewal ; Ronald Reagan and the end of the Cold War ; The Afghanistan and Iraq Wars ; The purpose and the possible -- 9. Technology, equilibrium, and human consciousness : World order in the nuclear age ; The challenge of nuclear proliferation ; Cyber technology and world order ; The human factor ; Foreign policy in the digital era -- Conclusion: World order in our time? : The evolution of international order ; Where do we go from here? |
| Summary |
Kissinger offers his analysis of the twenty-first century's ultimate challenge: how to build a shared international order in a world of divergent historic perspectives, violent conflict, proliferating technology, and ideological extremism. |
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Henry Kissinger offers in World Order a deep meditation on the roots of international harmony and global disorder. There has never been a true "world order," Kissinger observes. For most of history, civilizations defined their own concepts of order. Each considered itself the center of the world and envisioned its distinct principles as universally relevant. China conceived of a global cultural hierarchy with the Emperor at its pinnacle. In Europe, Rome imagined itself surrounded by barbarians. When Rome fragmented, European peoples refined a concept of an equilibrium of sovereign states and sought to export it across the world. Islam, in its early centuries, considered itself the world's sole legitimate political unit, destined to expand indefinitely until the world was brought into harmony by religious principles. The United States was born of a conviction about the universal applicability of democracy -- a conviction that has guided its policies ever since. Now international affairs take place on a global basis, and these historical concepts of world order are meeting. Every region participates in questions of high policy in every other, often instantaneously. Yet there is no consensus among the major actors about the rules and limits guiding this process, or its ultimate destination. The result is mounting tension. Grounded in Kissinger's deep study of history and his experience as National Security Advisor and Secretary of State, World Order guides readers through crucial episodes in recent world history. Kissinger offers a unique glimpse into the inner deliberations of the Nixon administration's negotiations with Hanoi over the end of the Vietnam War, as well as Ronald Reagan's tense debates with Soviet Premier Gorbachev in Reykjavík. He offers compelling insights into the future of U.S.-China relations and the evolution of the European Union, and examines lessons of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Taking readers from his analysis of nuclear negotiations with Iran through the West's response to the Arab Spring and tensions with Russia over Ukraine, World Order anchors Kissinger's historical analysis in the decisive events of our time. |
| Subject |
World politics -- 21st century.
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Security, International.
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International relations.
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Geopolitics.
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| ISBN |
9781594206146 (hc) |
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1594206147 (hc) |
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