There are very few books which I have read that provide more intellectual stimulation and challenge than Barry Gewen’s The Inevitability of Tragedy: Henry Kissinger and His World. In a carefully researched and deeply insightful manner, Gewen develops the historical foundation for Kissinger’s “Real Politic” approach to diplomacy and positions it in the context of the history which Kissinger lived, beginning with the formative period of the demise of the Weimar government (showing that democracy does not inevitably win versus a populist tyrant Hitler). Then on through the overthrow of Allende in Chile, the Cold War, Vietnam and so on. He grounds Kissinger’s beliefs in the prior work of Hans Morgenthau, Hannah Arendt and Leo Strauss.
Foundational to Kissinger’s philosophy of foreign affairs is the conviction that power and power relationships among nations are of inexorable importance. Discount them at your own peril. Allow unbridled idealism, manifest for example in the Wilsonian school of diplomacy; or allow an unfettered application of moralism to drive diplomatic decisions and you’re on your way to pernicious outcomes. Witness the belief, which I shared for many years, that the demise of the Soviet Union would lead to the adoption of some form of democracy, even if one different from the U.S., in the previous Soviet Union. Or, similarly, my belief that the economic development of China would lead to greater democratization.
The recognition of power and the irreducible importance of national interests, formed through history and individual circumstances (e.g. the historic need for control and security in China; the exceptional circumstance of the U.S. being protected by two oceans, having a virtually unlimited expanse of land to expand into, and having friendly neighbors to the north and south)—realities like these must be recognized in the formation of any rational, effective diplomatic policy.
We have to be willing and able to view the world as other major powers do, with open eyes and understanding, even as we pursue different values and interests. For example, it’s entirely appropriate and indeed inevitable that the U.S. will advance the belief in the importance of individual freedom and human rights; but to make this the ultimate litmus test to decide what countries we will work with and how we will do it would be a terrible mistake. We didn’t do this as we allied with the Soviet Union to combat Nazi Germany because we knew that doing so was in the national interest of the U.S. and the entire world as we could conceive of what would be in our interest. Similarly today, with regard to our relationships with China, we have every right to advance the importance of human rights but it will be a fool’s errand if we make the top priority of our diplomacy to be changing the way that China operates today with regard to all human rights. We need to recognize that change takes time and that our overall relationships with China must be based on a rational, pragmatic determination of what will be in the interests of the U.S. and the world, for example, one that deals with the reality of climate change and the need to avoid nuclear destruction.
Having said all this, he flaw I see in a tightly drawn Real Politik approach to diplomacy is that it itself is too messianic. By that I mean, it excludes something that Kissinger himself often invokes, and that is the importance of wisdom and intuition. It took wisdom and intuition to conceive and advance the Marshall Plan. It might have been argued, incorrectly as it turns out, that this expenditure was not strictly speaking in accord with maximizing America’s national interest.
The creation of the European Community was another act of intuition and foresight. Those that argued, as many did, that this was contrary to the historical enmity which existed between Germany and France would have missed this opportunity and the elimination of the threat of war that it has enabled.
I am reinforced in reading this book that we must hold fast in our commitment to what I regard as universal truths: the dignity of individual life, the importance of seeking truth, the humility that arises from knowing we will never reach perfection and that we can and must continue to learn from personal relationships founded on mutual empathy, understanding and the commitment to help one another in this passage of life.
It also reinforces the belief I’ve always had about Procter & Gamble and any great institution and that is our responsibility to sustain it for the future in accord with the values and principles which we believe to be correct without ever losing sight of what we need to do, practically, to achieve this outcome of sustainability.
No comments:
Post a Comment