Machiavelli Then and Now
History, Politics, Literature

Explores Machiavelli's intellectual engagement with human affairs in a wide triple perspective of history, politics and literature.

Sukanta Chaudhuri (Edited by), Prasanta Chakravarty (Edited by)

9781316516720, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 16 June 2022

348 pages
23.5 x 15.8 x 2.6 cm, 0.6 kg

Machiavelli's ideas are as important in our time as in his own. His insights and prescriptions help us make sense of today's political upheavals and natural calamities and reduce them to a working order. The chapters in Machiavelli Then and Now explore Machiavelli's central concerns: statecraft and order, liberty and citizenship, diplomacy and leadership, modes of strategization, the quest for empire - all set against the basic contention between autarchy, oligarchy and democracy. They also address the ethical and behaviourial factors behind political practice, such as force, suasion, ambition, corruption and vigilance in public discourse. The contributors consider the role of language, text and the imagination in Machiavelli, and they also bring the Machiavellian discourse closer to our own times, in relation to Gandhi, Gramsci and Althusser. The book will interest historians, political scientists and students of public policy; philosophers, rhetoricians and literary critics; and no less institution builders, diplomats and, administrators.

Notes on Contributors
Preface
Abbreviations and Editions Used
1. Introduction Prasanta Chakravarty
Part I. Power, Citizenship, Strategies: 2. Machiavelli on relationships: Knowledge of the occasion Thomas Berns
3. The anatomy of an error: Machiavelli's supposed commitment to a 'Citizen' Militia Paul A. Rahe
4. Machiavelli and tyranny Doyeeta Majumder
5. Machiavelli's turn to Xenophon Christopher Nadon and Christopher Lynch
6. Machiavelli and the solitary discipline of hunting Prasanta Chakravarty
7. 'To Give Reputation to One': Machiavelli the populist and other variations in Il Principe, Chapter 9 Guido Cappelli
Part II. History: 8. Riscontro: Machiavelli's art of history Francesco Marchesi
9. 'Letters as Oracles': Machiavelli's foresight in his letters Marcello Simonetta
10. Machiavelli's Lucretia and the origins of the Roman Republic: Rape, gender, and founding violence Yves Winter
Part III. Words and Dispositions
11. Thinking with animals: Machiavelli's L'asino and the metamorphoses of power Supriya Chaudhuri
12. Machiavellian rhetoric revisited Victoria Kahn
13. Machiavelli reading Swapan Chakravorty
14. A language for politics and a language of politics: Words as a tool of understanding and of action in Machiavelli Jean-Louis Fournel
Part IV. Afterlife: 15. Machiavelli and Gandhi Sukanta Chaudhuri
16. The Prince between Gramsci and Althusser Vittorio Morfino
Index.

Subject Areas: Political science & theory [JPA], Social & political philosophy [HPS], Philosophy [HP], History [HB], Literature: history & criticism [DS], Literature & literary studies [D]