The People’s Princes: Machiavelli, Leadership and Liberty

FAIN: FA-251875-17

John P. McCormick
University of Chicago (Chicago, IL 60637-5418)

A book-length study of Machiavelli’s concept of political leadership.

"The People’s Princes: Machiavelli, Leadership and Liberty" argues that Machiavelli, commonly considered a cynical adviser of tyrants, formulated a conception of leadership uniquely facilitating of democracy and the “free way of life.” My project draws on Machiavelli’s cases from Roman and Florentine history, and delineates his literary-rhetorical method of “political exemplarity” to accentuate the interactions between leaders and citizens that he considered indispensible for healthy democratic politics. Moreover, I highlight the relevance of Machiavelli’s thoughts on leadership for our age when democracy is challenged by economic inequality, oligarchic encroachment, failures of political representation and accountability and the rise of populism. Unlike previous interpreters, I show that Machiavelli advises democratic leaders and citizens to diligently pursue policies aimed at thwarting the efforts of socio-economic elites to oppress the people and violate the common good.

Associated Products

Reading Machiavelli (Book)
Title: Reading Machiavelli
Author: John P. McCormick
Abstract: To what extent was Machiavelli a “Machiavellian”? Was he an amoral adviser of tyranny or a stalwart partisan of liberty? A neutral technician of power politics or a devout Italian patriot? A reviver of pagan virtue or initiator of modern nihilism? Reading Machiavelli answers these questions through original interpretations of Niccolò Machiavelli’s three major political works—The Prince, Discourses, and Florentine Histories—and demonstrates that a radically democratic populism seeded the Florentine’s scandalous writings. John McCormick challenges the misguided understandings of Machiavelli set forth by prominent thinkers, including Jean-Jacques Rousseau and representatives of the Straussian and Cambridge schools.
Year: 2018
Primary URL: https://press.princeton.edu/titles/14172.html
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Type: Single author monograph
ISBN: 9780691183503
Copy sent to NEH?: No

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