HENRY KISSINGERIS 0 Ui Ui Ui (J) (J) LO N LO LO LO N LO '"~ '"~ ~ N 0 Ui Ui LO LO ui °Lrilf"iN 1"-'""" .••••.••..• ~ .•.... en c( C IX ::::I ~ c( ~ ~ c( ~! ~ '--------' w en ...I :J: ::::I f- ~ C 0 0 W ::::I Qj 0 :J: 0 E IX IX () IX f= Q. en :J: •... > c( C Z ::::I en or serious students of international relations, a book by an author of Henry Kissinger's extraordinary accomplishments and renown should not be missed. His II th and latest, Diplomacy*, is in a class by itself, a kind of summing up that not only informs, but also guides and inspires. Indeed, in its 900 pages the book packs a wealth of information and masterly analyses of some of the world's most significant diplomatic events. Henry Kissinger sets the tone for this monumental study by asserting that in every century there seems to emerge a country with the power, the will, and the intellectual and moral impetus to shape the entire international system in accordance with its own values. This would be a rather sweeping generalization were it not for the fact that his primary focus'is clearly Europe of the past three centuries and the United States of the 20th century. Diplomacy surveys on a grand scale how two different traditions-the European and the American-have evolved, interacted with each other, and influenced in a decisive manner not only the course of international relations but the very nature of the world order. The European tradition is embodied in the doctrine of raison d'etat (reason of state), which gave rise to the principle of balance of power and the concept of Realpolitik. The American tradition is rooted in the doctrine of American exceptionalism-the belief that the nation stood for something new under the sun, that its values were applicable universally, and that its destiny was to lead the world from the old to a "new order of the ages." The principle of collective security to' preserve peace and freedom has been a dominant factor in American thinking on foreign policy issues. The vast scope and uncommon structure of the book are largely defined by the author's background. Heinz Alfred Kissinger was born in the Bavarian villageof Fiirth in May 1923.By the time he was seven, the streets of his village were overrun by Hitler's young bullies. Heinz and his Jewish classmates were beaten up regularly. The Kissinger familyfledGermany in 1938 and came to America. Heinz, now 15, became Henry. He went to school in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan in New York City. Early in 1943he was drafted into the U.S. Army and served three years in counterintelli- F gence and one year as an instructor of German history. In 1947he enrolled at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on a scholarship. He received a BA degree in 1950,anMA in 1952, and a PhD in 1954. Those were the years when communism was on the move abroad-in East Europe, China, Korea, Vietnam-and the United States was in the grip of McCarthyism. These developments "may have seemed remote to many students at Harvard, but not to Kissinger whose own experience, in the words of jOlJrnalists Marvin and Bernard Kalb, "led him almost inevitably toward the strategy of Realpolitik, a belief that power was the elemental force in history." The crucial question was how power was to be used, and reflections on this. shaped his academic output-he held a variety of teaching positions at Harvard from 1951 to 1969-as well as his thoughts and actions thereafter. From 1969 to 1977he was National Security Adviser and then Secretary of State (holding the posts simultaneously for three years) in the administrations of Presidents Richard M. Nixon and Gerald R, Ford, acquiring celebrity status in the process. Henry Kissinger's own story, as biographer and political scientist Robert Isaak notes, "refutes the myth that individuals are of little importance in the world of politics of the nuclear age." The combination of formidable knowledge and experience at the highest levels of diplomacy distinguishes him as a statesman whose opinions on international affairs are widely sought, and received with respect if not always with agreement. European Concepts Diplomacy is more about the philosophy of great power relationships, and about the politics of power, than it is about the theory and practice of diplomacy in the conventional sense. As a study of power and its uses, the book is equally concerned with the dynamics of leadership. Immersed as he is in European history, Kissinger gives an absorbing account of the great events and personalities that dominated the European scene from the emergence of the state system in the mid-17th