The assessment of a contemporary statesman presents difficulties in view of the unpredictability of policy outcomes and the unavailability of documents and sources. However, it should still be possible to analyze the policies that determine whether a statesman will succeed of fail. Henry Kissinger placed the highest priority upon the development of detente with the Soviet Union and China. The ultimate wisdom of his vision is a matter of serious concern to both contemporary and future analysts. I am concerned with the divergence between the ideas of Kissinger as a scholar and the policies of Kissinger as a statesman. The first two chapters examine the principal tenets of Kissinger's philosophy of international relations and the relationship between the United States and Western Europe. I then focus upon American multilateral and bilateral relations with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the European Community (EC); West Germany, France, and Britain. In the concluding chapter I discuss the central tenets of Kissinger's philosophy of history and the impact of his statesmanship upon the world with respect to: Detente: The Soviet Union and China, the Middle East, Japan, economic issues, and morality and foreign policy. I then examine the relationship between the world of the scholar (the realm of theory) and the world of the statesman (the realm of practical solutions) and assess Kissinger's successes and failures in reconciling the worlds of the scholar and the statesman.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UMASS/oai:scholarworks.umass.edu:dissertations-1102 |
| Date | 01 January 1982 |
| Creators | BENDEL, JEFFRY R |
| Publisher | ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst |
| Source Sets | University of Massachusetts, Amherst |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Source | Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest |
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