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
IPSCON 2025-2026 Cohort Positions Open
The Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs is pleased to announce that applications for the 2025-2026 Carnegie International Policy Scholars Consortium and Network (IPSCON) are open. The application deadline is February 28, 2025.
Learn How to ApplyRecent Book Talk - ""Genesis: Artificial Intelligence, Hope, and the Human Spirit"
In his final book, the late Henry Kissinger joins forces with two leading technologists to mount “a profound exploration” (Walter Isaacson) of the epochal challenges and opportunities presented by the revolution in Artificial Intelligence: a breakthrough that dramatically empowers people in all walks of life while also raising urgent questions about the future of humanity.
As it absorbs data, gains agency, and intermediates between humans and reality, AI (Artificial Intelligence) will help us to address enormous crises, from climate change to geopolitical conflicts to income inequality. It might well solve some of the greatest mysteries of our universe and elevate the human spirit to unimaginable heights. But it will also pose challenges on a scale and of an intensity that we have never seen—usurping our power of independent judgment and action, testing our relationship with the divine, and perhaps even spurring a new phase in human evolution.
The last book of elder statesman Henry Kissinger, written with technologists Craig Mundie and Eric Schmidt, Genesis charts a course between blind faith and unjustified fear as it outlines an effective strategy for navigating the age of AI.
This was open to community members of the Hopkins Bloomberg Center. It took place at 5:30 PM on Tuesday, November 19.
Recent Event - Book Talk: Fareed Zakaria on World Order in Today’s “Age of Revolutions”
Recent Event - Book Talk: Fareed Zakaria on World Order in Today’s “Age of Revolutions”
Book Talk: Fareed Zakaria on World Order in Today’s “Age of Revolutions”
Friday, October 4, 1:00 PM
Hopkins Bloomberg Center, Theater
What insights can we gain about our polarized and unstable world by examining the revolutions that define our era, both past and present?
The early 21st century, marked by populist anger, division, economic and technological disruptions, and global risks, may be one of the most revolutionary periods in modern history. But humanity has navigated similar upheavals before. In his new book Age of Revolutions: Progress & Backlash, 1600 to Present, CNN host and bestselling author Fareed Zakaria explores three historical eras with lessons for today—from the Dutch Republic’s 17th century Golden Age of prosperity and classical liberalism; to the French Revolution’s violent divisions into right and left; and the Industrial Revolution which propelled Britain and then America to global power.
The Kissinger Center hosted Fareed Zakaria as he discussed his newest book, "Age of Revolutions: Progress and Backlash from 1600 to the Present." This event was open to community members of the Hopkins Bloomberg Center. You can find more details here.
Our Publications
Explore our latest scholarship
The Eurasian Century: Hot Wars, Cold Wars, and the Making of the Modern World
Hal Brands, a renowned expert on global affairs, argues that a better understanding of Eurasia’s strategic geography can illuminate the contours of rivalry and conflict in today’s world. The Eurasian Century explains how revolutions in technology and warfare, and the rise of toxic ideologies of conquest, made Eurasia the center of twentieth-century geopolitics—with pressing implications for the struggles that will define the twenty-first.
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.