The aim of the contribution is to analyse, a few years after his death, the thought of the American political scientist Stanley Hoffmann. In particular we will deepen the analysis of his essays on the acceptability of the use of military force in modern societies. We will focus on the benefits and functionality resulting from the force in the international arena of the Cold War, and, at the same time, we will examine the decline of its acceptanceor tolerability by internal societies, starting from the protests of civilians between 60s and 70s. Loss or decrease of the acceptability of military force can be explained moving from lucid political analysis Hoffmann’s essays. According to Hoffmann only a world governed by an order will be a peaceful and legitimate place.