Transformations of World Orders: Lessons from Kissinger and the English School

Abstract

The post-1945 world order is in crisis: the norms against aggressive war and territorial acquisition by force were shattered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and annexation of Crimea. I examine this crisis with the help of two approaches mostly ignored in mainstream academic international relations, that of Henry Kissinger and that of the classical English school. From both we see how norms structure possibilities for statesman and peoples. To understand our present difficulties, though, we need to give more weight to the nation in international relations than do these thinkers state-centered approaches.