Title: Machiavelli and the republican idea of politics
Abstract: If there is a single point on which scholars have reached a wide consensus, it is that Machiavelli created a new theory or a new science of politics. Be it his sin or his greatest contribution to modern culture, what seems to be beyond dispute is that Machiavelli rejected the republican idea of politics and provided us with a new account of what politics is all about. Against the classical view that politics is the art of establishing and preserving a good community, Machiavelli, it has been argued, emphasised that the goal of politics is the pursuit of power and that the 'political man' cannot be the 'good man of the ancients'. While several scholars have stressed that the originality of Machiavelli lies in the redefinition of the aim of politics, others have emphasised his contribution to a new methodology of political enquiry.
Publication Year: 1991
Publication Date: 1991-01-10
Language: en
Type: book-chapter
Indexed In: ['crossref']
Access and Citation
Cited By Count: 130
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