ABSTRACT
Forerunner of internationalist pacifism, even though from within the perspective of a religious discourse, was Erasmus of Rotterdam who in 1521 wrote a text titled The Complaint of Peace, where he wishes a peaceful coexistence of peoples under an ideal of Christian brotherhood. The necessity of rethinking an ultimate foundation of the ius gentium reappeared again with the formation of the modern state. The reference to a world state republic as a model for defining the conditions of international society date back in history to the point of disjuncture between the Stoic visions of the rationality of a universal logos and the institutionalization of power-discourses in the Roman empire. De Vitoria’s contribution to the Spanish-American Indian controversy signalled that a new concept of authority had to be found, one appealing to some form of human commonality and exercising legitimate global power.
