This essay addresses some of the thoughts expressed by Thomas More on just war and interna-tional relationsin the light of Machiavellian realism and theethic-political idealism ascribed to Erasmus of Rotterdam. We propose that More’s idea of “just war” canbe interpreted as an ear-ly modern attempt to legitimise the paradigmatic role of State policies designed to export and impose certain political and cultural models on other States. That same idea might contextually contribute to qualify a paradigm of international relationswhich, by combining realism and ide-alism, preserves a distinctively ethical basis while justifying war as a strategy of reduction of moral evil.
