Il «sorriso complice» degli Stati Uniti. Reinhold Niebuhr e l’ironia della storia americana

In The Irony of American History Reinhold Niebuhr used the concept of «irony» to explain the paradoxical condition of the United States in the international system of the 1950s. According to Niebuhr, America was involved in an ironic confutation of its sense of virtue, strength, security and wisdom. After the end of the Cold War, nothing seems to have changed. Indeed, the United States is facing new ambiguous situations. This article analyzes the lasting validity of the concept of irony in American foreign policy.