| FA-53215-07 | Research Programs: Fellowships for University Teachers | Catherine H. Zuckert | Machiavellian Politics | 9/1/2007 - 12/31/2008 | $40,000.00 | Catherine | H. | Zuckert | | | | University of Notre Dame | Notre Dame | IN | 46556-4635 | USA | 2006 | Political Science, General | Fellowships for University Teachers | Research Programs | 40000 | 0 | 40000 | 0 |
In a book on “Machiavellian politics,” I will argue that in the Discourses he uses Rome to criticize Sparta as the model of republican government. But having displaced the classical “aristocratic” notion of republicanism with a nascent model of checks and balances, he acknowledges that Roman conquests destroyed freedom everywhere. Instead of trying to conquer their neighbors, he urges his Florentine republican readers to form a federation with them. Machiavelli thus presents a new understanding of republican politics later adopted in the U.S. The “armed prophet” he praises in the Prince nevertheless remains an ever present political option and threat. |