Nel 1955, mentre rifletteva sul grande potere e le nuove responsabilità degli Stati Uniti, Reinhold Niebuhr affermò:
“a nation that is too preoccupied with its own interests is bound to define those interests too narrowly. It will do this because it will fail to consider those of its interests which are bound up in a web of mutual interests with other nations. In short, the national interest when conceived only from the standpoint of the self-interest of the nation is bound to be defined too narrowly and therefore to be self-defeating”.
Un’osservazione che, pur a fronte del recente accordo di Bruxelles tra i Paesi dell’Europa, risuona ancora oggi sinistramente molto attuale. E’, forse, giunto il momento di (ritornare a) guardare oltre il mero interesse nazionale?