Learn more about the people, programs, and publications at the Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs
“The contemporary world is characterized by global upheaval resulting from differences in culture, values, history, and evolution. International studies need to focus on the confluence of these trends, permitting the development of a grand strategy. The Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs at Johns Hopkins SAIS will develop a multi-disciplinary approach to world order with special emphasis on historical and cultural evolution." Henry A. Kissinger
Generate new ideas
Through the research and writing of our distinguished faculty, fellows, and scholars
Train tomorrow’s leaders
Through innovative classes and curricula, the center seeks to revitalize the practice of diplomatic and military history and to examine the global order
Convene academics and practitioners
Through public and private programming which engages current leaders and new voices in their fields
OUR PEOPLE
We bring together distinguished scholars and practitioners in foreign policy and international security
Francis Gavin
Giovanni Agnelli Distinguished Professor, Director of the Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs
Mary Sarotte
Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis Distinguished Professor of Historical Studies, Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs
Featured News
To Run the World: The Kremlin's Cold War Bid for Global Power
What would it feel like To Run the World? The Soviet rulers spent the Cold War trying desperately to find out. In this panoramic new history of the conflict that defined the postwar era, Sergey Radchenko provides an unprecedented deep dive into the psychology of the Kremlin's decision-making. He reveals how the Soviet struggle with the United States and China reflected its irreconcilable ambitions as a self-proclaimed superpower and the leader of global revolution. This tension drove Soviet policies from Stalin's postwar scramble for territory to Khrushchev's reckless overseas adventurism and nuclear brinksmanship, Brezhnev's jockeying for influence in the third world, and Gorbachev's failed attempts to reinvent Moscow's claims to greatness. Perennial insecurities, delusions of grandeur, and desire for recognition propelled Moscow on a headlong quest for global power, with dire consequences and painful legacies that continue to shape our world.
Obtain your copy of the book hereRecent Event: The Kissinger Summer Academy - Nuclear Weapons and American Grand Strategy
The Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs at Johns Hopkins University offers exceptional undergraduates and recent graduates a week-long seminar that investigates the role of nuclear weapons in American grand strategy. The seminar revisited debates over nuclear strategy during the Cold War, considered how U.S. policymakers have addressed challenges such as non-proliferation and rogue states, and explored the role that nuclear weapons will have in shaping American competitions with Russia and China today. It provided Kissinger Summer Fellows with an understanding of how technology and strategy have shaped the nuclear age and examines the choices that American leaders must make with respect to nuclear weapons in a new era of geopolitical rivalry and profound technological innovation. The course provided an emerging generation of thought-leaders and policymakers with the tools to understand our nuclear past and shape our nuclear future.
The 2024 Kissinger Summer Academy took place from July 8 to July 12, 2024. More information about the course can be found here.
Recent Conference - Disunity in Diversity? Europe and Grand Strategy in a Time of Global Upheaval
Recent Conference - Disunity in Diversity? Europe and Grand Strategy in a Time of Global Upheaval
Disunity in diversity? Europe and Grand Strategy in a Time of Global Upheaval
May 29 to 31, 2024
Hertie School, Berlin, Germany
This three-day conference sponsored by the DAAD and jointly organized by the Henry A. Kissinger Center at Johns Hopkins University SAIS and the Hertie Centre for International Security aims to shed light on these fundamental questions: Why has the EU failed so far to develop a joint strategic vision including the means to implement it? Why is it incapable of protecting Ukraine on its own? Has the EU missed important junctures in its political trajectory that could have led to a joint conception of world order? Or rather did geostrategic, ideological, or domestic obstacles stand in the way of ever reaching this goal? Furthermore, will the EU fail or succeed in the process of resolving these questions? Can the absence of a joint geopolitical vision of the EU tear its economic achievements apart? What will the EU look like in 10-15 years?
The final panel took place on May 31 at 10:30 AM local time and was open to the public. You can find more details here.
Our Publications
Explore our latest scholarship
To Run The World: The Kremlin's Cold War Bid for Global Dominance
What would it feel like To Run the World? The Soviet rulers spent the Cold War trying desperately to find out. In this panoramic new history of the conflict that defined the postwar era, Sergey Radchenko provides an unprecedented deep dive into the psychology of the Kremlin's decision-making. He reveals how the Soviet struggle with the United States and China reflected its irreconcilable ambitions as a self-proclaimed superpower and the leader of global revolution. This tension drove Soviet policies from Stalin's postwar scramble for territory to Khrushchev's reckless overseas adventurism and nuclear brinksmanship, Brezhnev's jockeying for influence in the third world, and Gorbachev's failed attempts to reinvent Moscow's claims to greatness. Perennial insecurities, delusions of grandeur, and desire for recognition propelled Moscow on a headlong quest for global power, with dire consequences and painful legacies that continue to shape our world.
War in Ukraine: Conflict, Strategy, and the Return of a Fractured World
In War in Ukraine, Hal Brands brings together an all-star cast of analysts to assess the conflict's origins, course, and implications and to offer their appraisals of one of the most geopolitically consequential crises of the early twenty-first century. Essays cover topics including the twists and turns of the war itself, the successes and failures of US strategy, the impact of sanctions, the future of Russia and its partnership with China, and more.
The Taming of Scarcity and the Problems of Plenty: Rethinking International Relations and American Grand Strategy in a New Era
In this Adelphi book, Francis J. Gavin argues that the institutions, practices, theories and policies that helped explain and largely tamed scarcity by generating massive prosperity, and which were sometimes used to justify punishing conquest, are often unsuitable for addressing the problems of plenty. Successful grand strategy in this new age of abundance requires new thinking. New conceptual lenses, innovative policies and processes, and transformed institutions will be essential for confronting and solving the problems of plenty, without undermining the expanding efforts against scarcity.
The New Makers of Modern Strategy
Professor Hal Brands edited The New Makers of Modern Strategy, is the next generation of the definitive work on strategy and the key figures who have shaped the theory and practice of war and statecraft throughout the centuries. Featuring new entries by world-class scholars, this new edition provides global, comparative perspectives on strategic thought from antiquity to today, surveying both classical and current themes of strategy while devoting greater attention to the Cold War and post-9/11 eras.
Danger Zone: The Coming Conflict with China
Professor Brands is joined by Professor Beckley of Tufts University in a "provocative and urgent" analysis of the U.S - China relationship and rivalry.
Featured Title: Not One Inch: America, Russia, and the Making of Post-Cold War Stalemate
In her newest book, Professor Mary Elise Sarotte explores the profound impact of NATO expansion on US-Russia relations since the Cold War, revealing missed opportunities and drawing on newly declassified documents and over 100 interviews.
The Twilight Struggle: What the Cold War Teaches Us about Great-Power Rivalry Today
America is entering an era of long-term great power competition with China and Russia. In this innovative and illuminating book, Hal Brands, a leading historian and former Pentagon adviser, argues that America should look to the history of the Cold War for lessons on how to succeed in great-power rivalry today.
Our Programs
Our programs and projects examine crucial topics in history, strategy, and statecraft
AJI is a four-university, transatlantic consortium, which in collaboration with the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit, will recruit, train, and mentor the next generation of historically-minded scholars and practitioners in statecraft, diplomacy, and strategy.
A project that creates a cohort of scholar-practitioners who understand the problems and perspectives of the world of academia and practice and can successfully pursue careers in both.
The overarching aim of this program is to deepen transatlantic relations by strengthening the Kissinger Center – and in it, the German/European perspective – in conducting research, providing teaching, and to inform and engage a wider audience in debates concerning the transatlantic relationship, international security, and the role of Germany and Europe in the future world order.
The America in the World Consortium aims to prepare the next generation to confront geopolitical challenges and understand American national interests abroad to participate in the debate about America’s role in the world.
Founding Donors
The Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs was made possible by the extraordinary leadership of Johns Hopkins University alumnus and former board chair Michael R. Bloomberg and by generous gifts from individual donors, corporations, and private foundations.