Diplomacy (Kissinger book)

It is a sweep of the history of international relations and the art of diplomacy that largely concentrates on the 20th century and the Western World. Kissinger, as a great believer in the realist school (realism) of international relations, focuses strongly on the concepts of the balance of power in Europe prior to World War I, raison d'État and Realpolitik throughout the ages of diplomatic relations. Kissinger also provides critiques of the counter realist diplomatic tactics of collective security, which was developed in the Charter of the League of Nations, and self-determination, which was also a principle of the League. Kissinger also examines the use of the sphere of influence arguments put forth by the Soviet Union in Eastern and Southern Europe after World War II, an argument that has been maintained by contemporary Russian foreign relations with regard to Ukraine, Georgia and other former Soviet satellites in Central Asia.

The history begins in Europe in the 17th century but quickly advances up to the World Wars and then the Cold War. Kissinger refers to himself numerous times in the book, especially when he recounts the Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford presidencies. The book ends with the argument that the US after the Cold War world should return to European style realpolitik and abandon Wilsonian idealism for it is a must if America is willing to survive - they must adhere to tough choices which conforms to the reality of the situation, not some sort of grasping the situation that they are in with a touch of utopic vision.[1] But he cautioned that the realpolitik is not some sort of an automatic 'cure-all' for all the diplomatic or political feuds[2]

Kissinger dedicated the book to the men and women of the United States Foreign Service.

In a New York Times review the book was likened to Machiavelli's classic 'Discourses' and predicted that in future it will be read, like Machiavelli's book, "for its wisdom".[3]

The book has been target of criticism for historical inaccuracies.[3]

1. The New World Order
2. The Hinge: Theodore Roosevelt or Woodrow Wilson
3. From Universality to Equilibrium: Richelieu, William of Orange, and Pitt
4. The Concert of Europe: Great Britain, Austria, and Russia
5. Two Revolutionaries: Napoleon III and Bismarck
6. Realpolitik Turns on Itself
7. A Political Doomsday Machine: European Diplomacy Before the First World War
8. Into the Vortex: The Military Doomsday Machine
9. The New Face of Diplomacy: Wilson and the Treaty of Versailles
10. The Dilemmas of the Victors
11. Stresemann and the Re-emergence of the Vanquished
12. The End of Illusion: Hitler and the Destruction of Versailles
13. Stalin's Bazaar
14. The Nazi-Soviet Pact
15. America Re-enters the Arena: Franklin Delano Roosevelt
16. Three Approaches to Peace: Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill in World War II
17. The Beginning of the Cold War
18. The Success and the Pain of Containment
19. The Dilemma of Containment: The Korean War
20. Negotiating with the Communists: Adenauer, Churchill, and Eisenhower
21. Leapfrogging Containment: The Suez Crisis
22. Hungary: Upheaval in the Empire
23. Khrushchev's Ultimatum: The Berlin Crisis 1958-63
24. Concepts of Western Unity: Macmillan, de Gaulle, Eisenhower, and Kennedy
25. Vietnam: Entry into the Morass; Truman and Eisenhower
26. Vietnam: On the Road to Despair; Kennedy, and Johnson
27. Vietnam: The Extrication; Nixon
28. Foreign Policy as Geopolitics: Nixon's Triangular Diplomacy
29. Détente and Its Discontents
30. The End of the Cold War: Reagan and Gorbachev
31. The New World Order Reconsidered

A leather-bound, gold-embossed edition of the book was published by the Easton Press and signed by Kissinger.

The book appears in the film Muppet Treasure Island, in which The Great Gonzo pulls it out of Billy Bones' sea chest.

• Kissinger, Henry. Diplomacy. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994. ISBN 0-671-51099-1