“Violating the conventions and beliefs of his world proved neither an ethically sound nor a politically astute choice.”
Understanding the constantly and rapidly changing world of international relations means relying on the knowledge and quality of scholars and intellectuals who can help develop lateral thinking about the implications of a given event and connect them.
Since the early 2020s (although some specify since the early 2010s), the liberal international order seems to have reached its twilight. The strong repositioning of the United States, the proponents and founders of the previous world order, has left orphaned all those nations that had drawn their existence from that order and enjoyed decades of prosperity, relegating the thought of war to something distant in time and space. And just like children without a parent, European countries have been catapulted into a world they can no longer decipher, and worse, one that potentially threatens their very existence.
It is within this framework that Vittorio Emanuele Parsi’s text finds its place. An incitement to Europe, both as an institution and as a concept, and as individual citizens, to shake off its slumbering reason and not continue to suffer the weight of decisions and events made by other geopolitical actors who only look to their own interests (as is right).
Europe, with all its critical issues, remains the world’s last bastion of democracy and the defense of basic human rights (free healthcare, education, civil rights, etc.). However, having outsourced defense to its strongest ally has made it easily blackmailed, and when its strongest ally asked for its dues, it found itself impoverished and unable to respond. Therefore, in a time of crisis for international institutions, the only path that seems viable is that of more Europe (also from a defensive standpoint), and to convert the centrifugal forces present in the various nations that comprise it into centripetal forces.
The author’s reasoning on geopolitical dynamics is very clear, allowing even those unfamiliar with the subject to gain the tools to understand the relationships between superpowers, powers, and powerless states in the international arena. From the Peloponnesian War to the most recent scientific articles, Parsi helps us understand the world.
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Vittorio Emanuele Parsi, Contro gli imperi, Bompiani, Milano, 2026