Renderli simili o inoffensivi. L’ordine liberale, gli Stati Uniti e il dilemma della democrazia

actions are deemed immoral. In this respect, the history of international relations has shown that, for the sake of peace and mutual agreement, shared interests between nations can drive relations among regimes of a different nature. This is probably an intrinsic consequence of an international system rooted in an unfair global order where the most powerful nations are privileged compared to the others and in which the EU alone is not capable of reorganizing the world order. Ultimately, even the authors appear to acknowledge this problem when they contend that the very existence of a world of nation states prevents the realization of genuine international justice, whose pursuit fuels their overall analysis. This is in line with a more realistic viewpoint. Today, the EU’s diplomacy should be considered a tool to strengthen alliances with international actors that chose to share the same global institutional architecture and are trying to uphold liberal values in an increasingly challenging environment (Treaty of Lisbon, Article 21 TEU). Accordingly, the ultimate objective of the EU’s external action is to safeguard its values and fundamental interests, thereby promoting an international system based on stronger multilateral cooperation and good global governance. The emerging compromise is, as this research points out, not always immune to double standards. But on the other hand, one may wonder whether the other players in the international system, upholding very different values, are really consistent with their own ‘ethos’ or rather open to settlements, and what this means for contemporary international politics (e.g. for the definition of the ‘global justice’ the authors hope to be officially framed and enacted). The answer to this question could deepen further the excellent analysis of this book and open the door to more ambitious investigations.