Émeric Crucé
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Émeric Crucé[1] (1590-1648) was a French political writer, known for the Nouveau Cynée (1623), a pioneer work on international relations.
[edit] Life
Little specific is known about him. He taught in a college in Paris, and is said to have been a monk, supposed to have been from a humble background.[2].
[edit] The “New Cyneas”
The Nouveau Cynée ou Discours d'Estat représentant les occasions et moyens d'establir une paix générale et la liberté de commerce pour tout le monde takes its name from Cyneas, a diplomat-statesman of the ancient world, active around 300 BC, and known for his emphasis on peace. Crucé made peace central to his philosophical and political thought.
He is pacifist in tone, and envisages an international body to maintain peace. It should be a permanent gathering princes, or their representatives, in session at Venice; its task would be to resolve disputes. Radically, the suggestion is that the Islamic powers would participate[3], in this permanent peace congress; Crucé's thinking runs along the lines of a common humanity[4].
His system relies on a measure of free trade[5], and proposes a single currency, and standardized weights and measures. There is an emphasis on social and economic objectives, and public spending.
Crucé's ideas are in sharp contrast to those of Jean Bodin, based on national sovereignty and the acceptance of war.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Émeric de la Croix, Emericus Cruceus
- ^ http://www.europeanspirit.gr/biblioteca/rougemont_europe.html
- ^ John Bagnell Bury, The Idea of Progress (2004 reprint), p. 88.
- ^ Darren J. O'Byrne, The Dimensions of Global Citizenship: Political Identity Beyond the Nation-state (2003), p. 64.
- ^ http://www.globalpolicy.org/reform/intro/1999jinx.htm
