Conclusion: The Limits of Irony in International Politics

In this book, the years after the fall of the Berlin Wall are referred to as the post–Cold War era. Now that more than thirty years have passed since the end of the Cold War, the term is becoming increasingly redundant. Furthermore, as the liberal orthodoxy of the post–Cold War era is beginning to wane, it is unclear what is left of the normative and political character of the era that was meant to bring an end to the historical battle between different ideologies. The question of what comes after the post–Cold War era is pertinent when analysing the future scenes of irony in international politics. As has been argued in this book, irony in international politics happens in different scenes that are characterised by particular social, political and historical contexts. The book has treated the post–Cold War era as a particular scene of irony because the omnipresence of the liberal international order is being ironised in all the four forms.