Kissinger was the 56th Secretary of State. It examines the events and ideas that formed the historic concepts of order, their manifestations in contemporary con-troversies, and the ways in which they might ultimately be reconciled. Grounded in Kissinger’s deep study of history and experience as national security adviser and secretary of state, “World Order” guides readers on a tour of the globe. Yet there is no consensus among the major actors about the rules and limits guiding this process, or its ultimate destination. Every region participates in questions of high policy in every other, often instanta-neously. Now international affairs take place on a global basis, and these historic concepts of world order are meeting. The United States was born of a conviction about the universal applicability of democratic prin-ciples-a conviction that has guided its policies ever since.
Islam con-sidered itself the world’s sole legitimate political unit, destined to expand indefinitely until the world was brought into harmony by Muslim principles. 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. Each considered itself the center of the world, and envi-sioned its distinct principles as universally relevant.Ĭhina conceived of a global cultural hierarchy with the Emperor at its pinnacle. For most of history, civilizations defined their own concepts of order. There has never been a true “world order,” Kissinger observes.
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