For Kissinger, order simply means stability--stability of states, and stability of the contemporary international order. During his time in office the contemporary international order was, of course, the Cold War. It was Kissinger's top priority to ensure that both the US and the Soviet Union maintained their positions in world affairs so that, in Kissinger's mind, the world wouldn't devolve into chaos. I want to highlight my previous statement: Kissinger wanted to ensure the Soviet Union's continued preeminence in world affairs. Many people may think that doesn't gel with their notion of what the Cold War was--as this world-consuming contest between two superpowers for control over the world. For Kissinger, and for Nixon, the goal was rather to maintain the status quo. This was in large part due to the domestic and international upheavals that were occuring during their time in office. Wars in Vietnam and the Middle East and domestic protests in the U.S. and Europe all threatened to upend the bipolar order. Kissinger believed that wars in the Third World might drag the two superpowers into military conflict or nuclear war, and domestic unrest in Western Europe could open that continent up to greater Soviet influence. Simultaneously, domestic unrest in the U.S., particularly protests against the Vietnam War, had the potential of leading the U.S. away from the global interventionism necessary to maintain its superpower status.

For Kissinger, then, the stability of the Cold War international order in the 1960s-1970s seemed to be hanging on by a thread. If any one of the various problems combusted into a world-wide crisis, Kissinger believed it could provoke a nuclear war. That idea can basically sum up Kissinger's thoughts on international affairs: stability provides safety, and chaos can create destruction on a global scale.