Content Warning: This summary contains some descriptions of the effects of war and follows a Eurocentric, androcentric perspective on global affairs, history, and society. This book also contains problematic and offensive arguments about the United States’ role in global politics and its treatment of such nations as Vietnam, Cambodia, and Chile, minimizing the atrocities of the interventions in these places.

Kissinger sees throughout diplomatic history a dichotomy between two approaches. One is called realpolitik, or raison d’état, or realism, all referring to the pursuit of material power by one state at the expense of others. Realpolitik often requires amoral or even immoral means to achieve its ends, most notably the use of force, but such methods are necessary to achieve stability in a world where one cannot trust others to act altruistically; parties will therefore subject their states to the risk of instability or even collapse if they try to govern on the basis of morals rather than the harsh realities of politics. The great practitioners of realpolitik include Cardinal Richelieu of France, Prince Metternich of Austria, and Chancellor Otto von Bismarck of Germany, with Stalin and Richard Nixon earning honorable mentions.