The former US Secretary of State spoke for one hour as part of the library's wonderful speaker series. He was there in support of his new book, World Order.
Henry Kissinger is 91 years old now but you'd hardly know it to look at him or to listen to him. His energy, intellect, deftness and inquisitiveness seem undiminished. He even stayed around afterwards to sign books for a long line of bibliophiles and well-wishers.
Kissinger was both nimble and lucid. On top of that, his knowledge of world history and his recollection of dates, times, places, events and conversations is impressive. Speaking of his secretive trips to China during the Nixon administration leading to a new era of US/China relations, Kissinger recalled his initial meetings with Zhou Enlai, Premier of the People's Republic of China. Kissinger noted that "in the beginning Zhou and I spoke much like two professors. Our conversations were broad and largely theoretical." Kissinger suggested that such a tone is necessary whenever nations that have eyed one another suspiciously seek to probe for possible paths to understanding.
"We couldn't let the [US] intelligence community know what we are doing because they were convinced that we could never open the door to China so long as Mao Zedong was still alive. In fact, the reason we were able to open the door is precisely because Mao was still alive," Kissinger explained.
This story reinforced Kissinger's contention that successful diplomats must venture beyond the prevailing view of the world and probe around the outer edges of conventional thought.
In his new book, World Order Kissinger takes a cool, clear-eyed view of the world and reminds us once again that we must resist the temptation to act on the basis of ideology or some notion of what we might wish the world to be like. Rather, we must act on the basis of the stark realities that we are confronted with. In short, we must view the world dispassionately; we must see it as it really is. This realpolitik notion has always defined Kissinger's theories as well as his words and actions. He also still stresses geographical and cultural spheres of influence in defining geopolitical realities.
But now Kissinger brings it all up to date and applies his theories to 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.
Today, our enemies are often not defined by national borders or recognizable armies. Today, instantaneous communication greatly shrinks the amount of time we have to respond to threats or provocations. Today, a global economy makes us more interdependent but often limits our ability to act unilaterally.
But Kissinger reminds us that there has never been a true “world order.” 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.
Kissinger warns of the danger of isolationism as an obstacle to peaceful coexistence between nations with divergent priorities. He also strongly argues for American leadership in an increasingly interconnected world.
In Kissinger's view, we do not have the luxury of being disengaged because the world will simply not go away, much as we might like that to be the case. So, we must confront the realities of today's world if we are to have any hope of achieving any semblance of world order.
For Kissinger this means that we must use diplomacy to find ways to achieve a balance between and among competing interests so that we might live together on a planet where we are not at each other's throats.
"I am hardly a young man anymore," Kissinger said. "I have seen five wars in my lifetime and, during that time America won one [WWII], fought another to a draw [Korea] and arguably lost three [Vietnam, The Gulf War and Iraq]." Kissinger added that "you cannot go into a war unless you know how you're going to get out of it."
If you're looking for someone to champion an ideology or storm the barricades, Kissinger is probably not the man for you. But, if you find the world messy and complex and you're looking for someone who can calmly and rationally illuminate you to the point where you might begin to find a way to some semblance of order amidst the chaos, he's probably still your guy.
In his new book, World Order Kissinger takes a cool, clear-eyed view of the world and reminds us once again that we must resist the temptation to act on the basis of ideology or some notion of what we might wish the world to be like. Rather, we must act on the basis of the stark realities that we are confronted with. In short, we must view the world dispassionately; we must see it as it really is. This realpolitik notion has always defined Kissinger's theories as well as his words and actions. He also still stresses geographical and cultural spheres of influence in defining geopolitical realities.
But now Kissinger brings it all up to date and applies his theories to 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.
Today, our enemies are often not defined by national borders or recognizable armies. Today, instantaneous communication greatly shrinks the amount of time we have to respond to threats or provocations. Today, a global economy makes us more interdependent but often limits our ability to act unilaterally.
But Kissinger reminds us that there has never been a true “world order.” 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.
Kissinger warns of the danger of isolationism as an obstacle to peaceful coexistence between nations with divergent priorities. He also strongly argues for American leadership in an increasingly interconnected world.
In Kissinger's view, we do not have the luxury of being disengaged because the world will simply not go away, much as we might like that to be the case. So, we must confront the realities of today's world if we are to have any hope of achieving any semblance of world order.
For Kissinger this means that we must use diplomacy to find ways to achieve a balance between and among competing interests so that we might live together on a planet where we are not at each other's throats.
"I am hardly a young man anymore," Kissinger said. "I have seen five wars in my lifetime and, during that time America won one [WWII], fought another to a draw [Korea] and arguably lost three [Vietnam, The Gulf War and Iraq]." Kissinger added that "you cannot go into a war unless you know how you're going to get out of it."
If you're looking for someone to champion an ideology or storm the barricades, Kissinger is probably not the man for you. But, if you find the world messy and complex and you're looking for someone who can calmly and rationally illuminate you to the point where you might begin to find a way to some semblance of order amidst the chaos, he's probably still your guy.
No comments:
Post a Comment