Discuss @David Flin 's latest article here
I think the most crucial piece to the build up to WWI is that Germany's natural allies all hated each other and Germany could only ever choose which one it wanted to piss off.
A more diplomatic Kaiser would certainly have helped and the Austrians being more diplomatically skilled would have been a god send but I think that the way things panned out was the logical consequence of the fault lines in European politics at this point.