Book description
In World Order, Henry Kissinger - one of the leading practitioners of world diplomacy and author of On China - makes his monumental investigation into the 'tectonic plates' of global history and state relations.
World Order is the summation of Henry Kissinger's thinking about history, strategy and statecraft. As if…
Why read it?
2 authors picked World Order as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
Kissinger is the ultimate political realist, and that’s why I find World Order so fascinating.
It’s always eye-opening to read someone who strips away illusions and shows the bedrock of power as it really is. For me, it was fun—and sobering—to see how he frames the world not as an ideal system but as a fragile balance of fear and bargains.
What I took away most was the reminder that “world order” is a phrase we use to comfort ourselves. In reality, there is no such thing, only shifting arrangements that hold until they don’t. That honesty made me think…
From M. B.'s list on how the world actually works.
A good book should be able to convey much knowledge, in an accessible manner, but also one clear perspective. Kissinger’s book on world order – informed by the pragmatism that characterized the academic views of this controversial leader with a tainted legacy – provides that.
The main claim of the book that competing orders exist – a Chinese one, an Islamic one, a European one, etc.– should be read in Western policy circles. The war in Ukraine and the different reactions of countries from around the world compared to the G7 vindicate some of the arguments made in this book.
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From Zeno's list on US-China competition in a changing international order.
If you love World Order...
Harry and Arthur
With Franklin Roosevelt’s death in April 1945, Vice President Harry Truman and Senator Arthur Vandenberg, the Republican leader on foreign policy, inherited a world in turmoil. With Europe flattened and the Soviets emerging as America’s new adversary, Truman and Vandenberg built a tight, bipartisan partnership at a bitterly partisan time…
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