Sulla sopravvivenza: John H. Herz e la crisi della politica internazionale del XX secolo

This introduction presents the first Italian-language selection of essays by John H. Herz (1908–2005), a pioneering yet often overlooked figure in twentieth-century international theory. The essay reconstructs Herz's intellectual trajectory from his early formation under Hans Kelsen's legal positivism through his engagement with Weimar's political crisis and Nazi persecution, tracing how exile and historical experience drove his realist turn. The introduction focuses on three conceptual developments that give coherence to Herz's oeuvre across several decades. First, it examines the "security dilemma" — arguably his most enduring theoretical contribution — as a structural condition of international life irreducible to human nature or ideological rivalry. Second, it analyses the normative project of "realist liberalism," understood as a synthesis that places realistic analysis at the service of liberal ends without yielding to either utopian illusion or cynical Realpolitik. Third, it traces the further evolution of this framework into what Herz termed "universalism," a response to the existential challenge posed by nuclear weapons and accelerating technological transformation, including ecological degradation and demographic pressure. The introduction also surveys the essays collected in the volume, situating each within its historical and theoretical context, from the debates over postwar international organization to the critique of behaviouralism in International Relations. It concludes by arguing that Herz's thought — suspended between utopia and reality, between structural diagnosis and ethical responsibility — retains considerable conceptual relevance for understanding contemporary forms of global insecurity.