Henry Kissinger

Diplomatic History, 2003

Reviews in history, 2018

Cold War History, 2016

By focusing on Kissinger’s more theoretical works, I hope to draw attention to the contributions and problems of Kissinger the academic, hidden for so long in plain sight beneath the shadow of his own social clout. First, I provide a thumbnail sketch of Kissinger’s life and times to facilitate thinking about the developments which shaped his political thought. In the main analysis I argue that Kissinger should be best understood as a scholar within the subfield of Foreign Policy Analysis, even though his emphasis on order and shared values among sovereign states is most in tune with Structural Realism, otherwise known as the English School of International Relations. With this radical interpretation, I explore the evolution in the meaning of key concepts that appear again and again throughout Kissinger’s works, including legitimate order, balance of power, revolutionary state, national interest, and leadership. In doing so, I also point out flaws and inconsistencies in Kissinger’s thought, specifically what he acknowledges to be a fundamental difficulty in separating non-revolutionary and revolutionary revisionism before it is too late; the lack of a clear roadmap for building consensus among diverse actors and his summary dismissal of international organizations that are already serving some of that function; his elitism and often downright hostility to democratic processes in the domestic sphere; and a certain cognitive dissonance in his insistence on asserting that American motives are principally noble even while acknowledging the enduring importance of power politics. I trace these flaws back, ultimately, to his quest for redemption, and acknowledge his manifold contributions to American foreign policy and world order.

NETSOL: New Trends in Social and Liberal Sciences, 2022

Henry Kissinger has been an active politician and diplomat in the international politics of Cold War with demonstrated success in theory and practice. He is one of the rare politicians with a quite a few biography books. In this latest biography of Kissinger, Thomas Schwartz from Vanderbilt University reveals a unique perspective on Kissinger’s life and work. Learning about Kissinger's life and his decision-making process is as crucial as the most fundamental question of the book: Who is Kissinger? What would or could Kissinger do? Beyond Kissinger, the book entails information about the politicians Kissinger interacted across the world on various political disputes. Schwartz’s work objectively summarizes these disputes and Kissinger’s approach to each dispute gives reader a glimpse of his political personality.

International Affairs, 2021

Czech Journal of International Relations, 2023