Henry Kissinger's purpose in Diplomacy is to place America's twentieth-century foreign policy firmly in the flow of the history of foreign relations that begins with the reorganization of Europe after the Napoleonic wars. At that time the dream of a European empire was largely abandoned for the more practical balance of power among a varying cast of nations. The Realpolitik of Bismarck and others contains, Kissinger believes, the germ of truth about power and international relations. Kissinger, a professional student of European foreign policy, has promoted the Realist approach to international politics for his entire career. This book demonstrates how he believes America's fate in the twentieth century illustrates the inherent truth of the Realist belief in the primacy of power in international relations.
Kissinger's book is written on a grand scale and in a rapid, flowing prose that keeps the reader going avidly from point to point. He is witty and persuasive, but ultimately his sweeping statements about intentions and his selectivity regarding motivations slows his story and makes the reader ask far too many questions. In a survey of this kind it is necessary to choose the events that seem to be the highlights of the story one is trying to tell. But to avoid, for example, America's undermining of governments it did not approve of, on the grounds, it seems, that covert action is not diplomacy, seems more than a little disingenuous. Such actions were usually pursued on exactly the grounds of Realist identification and pursuit of national interest that Kissinger promotes. Yet Kissinger does not discuss them much -- perhaps because so many of them were failures. In Angola, where Reagan's policy of pressure on the USSR apparently resulted in the rout of the Cubans, Kissinger refers to this as a victory for American policy. The resultant civil war in Angola in which the American-supported forces are involved is not, however...