1,720,972 research outputs found
Natura umana e comunità politiche. Saggi sulle dinamiche e sugli enigmi dell’esistenza personale e sociale dell’uomo
No full textPer comprendere le dinamiche della storia e della politica occorre un’adeguata conoscenza della natura dell’uomo. Da questo presupposto prende avvio l’opera di Reinhold Niebuhr – qui tradotta per la prima volta in italiano –, dove viene descritta l’ambiguità della personalità umana, caratterizzata da una libertà radicale che apre a possibilità infinite di bene e di male. Questa ambiguità si riflette anche nelle discrepanze tra il comportamento morale e sociale degli individui e quello dei gruppi, meno capaci di controllare gli istinti e di andare al di là dei propri interessi, come dimostrano, per esempio, le questioni del razzismo e del nazionalismo. Per provare a risolvere la tensione tra il singolo e la comunità, tra classi, etnie e Stati, Niebuhr dichiara il bisogno urgente di un “realismo cristiano”, che permetta alla politica di non rimanere intrappolata nell’immanenza della storia, ma di rivolgersi verso ciò che la eccede
«Come un’unica famiglia». Lo Stato mondiale nel pensiero internazionale di Arnold J. Toynbee
No full textThis chapter investigates Arnold J. Toynbee’s international thought by focusing on a relatively overlooked element of his work: the idea of a world state. From the 1920s to the 1970s, Toynbee sought a political solution capable of ensuring global stability and peace. Confronted with the realities of the atomic age, he increasingly regarded the peaceful and voluntary unification of humanity as the only viable response to the threat of mutual nuclear annihilation. The chapter traces the evolution of Toynbee’s approach across several phases. In the 1920s and 1930s, he articulated a liberal vision closely linked to the tradition of British imperial internationalism. From the 1940s onward, he shifted toward a more explicitly cosmopolitan perspective grounded in imaginative political reform, ultimately advancing a spiritually oriented - and in many respects utopian - conception of world unity
Introduzione. Pensare lo Stato mondiale
No full textThis introduction reconstructs the rich and often contradictory debates surrounding the idea of a world state from the late nineteenth century to the present. Far from being a merely speculative fantasy, the world state has been imagined as a utopian project of peace, a logical outcome of technological and economic integration, and a dystopian danger to individual and collective freedom. After revisiting the curious attempts by twentieth-century anthropologists to predict the exact date of global political unification, the introduction outlines the emergence of the world state as a modern concept shaped by imperial expansion, global war, and the crisis of sovereignty. It then presents the contributions of the volume, which examine a diverse range of thinkers — from Wells, Jünger and Toynbee to Kelsen, Kojève and Schmitt — who engaged with the promises and perils of a global political authority. While not advocating for or against the feasibility of a world state, the introduction argues that examining these debates offers a privileged vantage point from which to reassess the transformations of sovereignty, order and power in a technologically unified but politically fragmented global age
La «lunga ombra» di Reinhold Niebuhr. Sul dialogo del teologo protestante con la cultura americana ed europea
No full textReinhold Niebuhr was a crucial figure in the cultural and political life of the United States. The author, through the discussion of two recent books of Giovanni Dessì (Intelligenza e potere, Roma 2021) and Luisa Borghesi (Il senso della storia, Roma 2021), reflects on the protestant theologian’s influence in the American public debate during the twentieth century. Niebuhr was a proponent of a wide range of debates on political, religious, ethical, and cultural issues with other seminal thinkers (American or refugee), including John Dewey, Paul Tillich, Karl Löwith, George F. Kennan, Hans J. Morgenthau, and Martin Luther King Jr. By discussing the theses of Dessì and Borghesi, the author points out Niebuhr’s innate ability to be a bridge between the American and European traditions
Arnold Joseph Toynbee (1889-1975)
No full textThe chapter analyzes the international political thought of Arnold Joseph Toynbee (1889-1975). A highly prolific and long-lived public intellectual who went through phases of great celebrity and profound oblivion throughout the twentieth century, the British historian built a complex system of thought in which the role of civilizations was central not only in explaining millennia-old historical dynamics but also in analyzing twentieth-century international politics. The chapter examines both the philosophy of history and Toynbee's international theory, and, in particular, delves into the role attributed to civilizations in the dynamics of universal history. Moreover, after investigating the disruptive importance that religions gradually assume in the author's elaborated vision of the political order, the chapter offers a concise account of the scholarly (s)fortune that Toynbee garners in academic debate
“All Mankind and yet nothing but Mankind”: Arnold J. Toynbee and the World State
No full textThis article explores Arnold J. Toynbee’s contributions to international thought, focusing on a less examined aspect of his work: the idea of a world state. From the 1920s to the 1970s, Toynbee sought solutions to the crisis of international politics capable of ensuring global stability and peace. In the atomic age, he saw the voluntary unification of humanity as the sole safeguard against nuclear catastrophe. The article traces the evolution of his thought across three phases: a liberal vision rooted in British imperial tradition (1920s-1930s); a cosmopolitan perspective marked by revolu-tionary political imagination (1940s-1950s); and, in later years, a spiritual and utopian approach
Un brav'uomo è difficile da trovare. L’antropologia del realismo cristiano in Reinhold Niebuhr
No full textChristian realism is an approach to reality, explicitly built upon Christian anthropology, that seeks to offer a non-perfectionist and anti-utopian conception of both domestic and international politics, without, however, falling into complacent nihilism or veiled cynicism. This essay aims to present a critical analysis of Niebuhr’s anthropological conception, relating it to his primary source of inspiration: the thought of Saint Augustine. Indeed, the Protestant theologian’s main contribution to the study of twentieth-century politics lies in the rediscovery of the work of the Bishop of Hippo. The goal is to show how Christian realism represents an approach to reality that enables Niebuhr—just as it did the Saint of Thagaste—to overcome the dangers of “gnosticism” and “Pelagianism” in modern politics, against the backdrop of an eschatological hope
Il «realismo cristiano» di Reinhold Niebuhr. Natura umana e comunità politiche
No full textThis chapter analyzes Reinhold Niebuhr's Christian realism, with specific reference to the Protestant theologian's last work, Man's Nature and His Communities (1965)
La politica nelle serie tv: un «potere seriale»?
No full text«Non c’è nulla di più potente di una buona storia», dice Tyrion Lannister subito dopo lo scontro fi nale di Game of Thrones. E accade sempre più spesso che le serie tv tocchino la questione del potere. Un’analisi da House of Cards a The West Wing e Borgen
Edmund Burke: un innovatore a difesa della tradizione
No full textThis chapter examines Edmund Burke’s international political thought, revealing him as an innovator in defense of tradition. It argues that Burke’s reflections on empire and revolution shaped a coherent vision of moral order and political prudence in international affairs. His conception of the British Empire emphasized governing diversity—balancing authority and liberty across America, India, and Ireland—through moderation, justice, and respect for difference. In contrast, his response to the French Revolution redefined Europe as a “republic of states” united by shared laws, customs, and religion, legitimizing intervention to preserve this common civilization. By linking imperial governance with the moral foundations of international order, Burke anticipated key questions in modern international theory, confirming Martin Wight’s claim that he was “the only political philosopher who, starting from political theory, devoted himself entirely to international theory.
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