Kissinger and Monnet: Realpolitik and Interdependence in World Affairs

Abstract

Abstract The juxtaposition of the political and cultural legacies of Henry Kissinger and Jean Monnet may help in interpreting the current phase of history. The evolution of the European Union has been consistent with Monnet’s vision of interdependence. The ‘return of the states’ connotes a new prominence for geopolitics and realpolitik in an increasingly multipolar world, squaring with the world order contemplated by Kissinger. This development has not yet obliterated global trade and value chains, but economic measures dictated by perceived national interests and geopolitical imperatives – including protectionism and sanctions – have impaired them. Such trends suggest a potential reprise of the situation preceding what Kissinger has called the ‘Second Thirty Years’ War’ – that is, the series of destructive conflicts between August 1914 and September 1945. Avoiding it calls for new statesmen of interdependence like Monnet.