World Order

Henry Kissinger

Sep 2014 · Sold by Penguin

About this ebook

“Dazzling and instructive . . . [a] magisterial new book.” —Walter Isaacson, Time

"An astute analysis that illuminates many of today's critical international issues." —Kirkus Reviews
 
Henry Kissinger offers in World Order a deep meditation on the roots of international harmony and global disorder. Drawing on his experience as one of the foremost statesmen of the modern era—advising presidents, traveling the world, observing and shaping the central foreign policy events of recent decades—Kissinger now reveals his analysis of the ultimate challenge for the twenty-first century: how to build a shared international order in a world of divergent historical perspectives, violent conflict, proliferating technology, and ideological extremism.

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 he 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.

Provocative and articulate, blending historical insight with geopolitical prognostication, World Order is a unique work that could come only from a lifelong policy maker and diplomat. Kissinger is also the author of On China. 

Ratings and reviews

Sick s e r p e n t s you all will answer for your crimes against the people. We should make a list for you criminals on top to put you all away. You guys are the ones that belong in prisoncamps instead. Same like those responsible forUSSRcrimes andGulags. We deserve reparations and justice for those past crimes to. This time we will start a revolution and end it. The globalistic ways are Babylonian.You all hate theEuropeans cause you s e r p e n t s know who your daddy really is and are jealous of us. All those who take part in this plan demlcNw0 deserves to be the ones on a list and put away for good!! You all will be prosecuted and suffer eternally in the end for your crimes against humanity!! When the rapture happens your supply of adrenochrome will be gone to for good and tables will turn against you all that you will know what they went through cause you all will face worst eternally to.Justice will be done!!!!

This morbidly obese.. ugly scumbag certainly did not pen this book.. Let alone complete even a single coherent sentence. Though he is likely as he has done many times before to be defiling an innocent child like his illuminnati fiends (Bill Clinton/Bush(es).. Enjoy eternity in hell with the light-bearer whom you seek..

The melancholic delusions of a washed up, out of touch, hasbeen, old man that thinks that global order can be created. Sorry to be such a buzz kill but... The end result of Henry Kissinger's world order shtick is that it'll just create more disorder rather than actual order.

About the author

Henry Kissinger served in the US Army during the Second World War and subsequently held teaching posts in history and government at Harvard University for twenty years. He served as national security advisor and secretary of state under Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, and advised many other American presidents on foreign policy. He received the 1973 Nobel Peace Prize, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the Medal of Liberty, among other awards. He was the author of numerous books and articles on foreign policy and diplomacy, including most recently Leadership, On China, and World Order. He served as chairman of Kissinger Associates, Inc., an international consulting firm. He died in 2023.