8/31/23

1- Machiavelli's THE PRINCE

Written in early 1500's

Who was machiavelli writing for: not public in general, speci cally for a family, medici
It was a secret thing to medici, not opened.

During exile, to convince medici to better rule the city

• Niccolo Machiavelli (1469 - 1527)

Elite Genre
In order to teach the princes: education for the rule

• Why are we reading the content how to rule? Where's economics?

The Prince (1513) was considered shocking in both content and form(of argument).
Machiavelli served as a senior o cial of Renaissance Florence(a republican government). He was
expert in various elds.

• What do we mean by Machiavellian? (cf. Adam Smith)

• To be a good prince/ruler..
-- you don't need to be a good person, nothing to do w morality.
but you do need military power and good strategy
-- you must love your country more than your soul
"being a prince is a tragic job, and w/o redemption and w/o justi cation"
-- you need to think it better to be feared than loved.

• The term "Machiavellian"_Real politics. Not ethics and values necessarily.

-- Use cruelty/violence well - it's better to be feared than loved
But go for "strong", not "cruel"; gain a reputation for being glorious not a reputation for
ruthlessness(appearances matter)
And you may need to be wily and deceptive(like a fox- more so than simply strong like a lion)

• Getting and keeping Princely glory

< A new science of politics, of a secular take on statehood >
-- Be prepared for war
-- Ally with the weaker
-- Don't make big institutional changes
-- Raise a citizen army

"...a successful ruler shows their virtu(skill, strength) in the face of fortune, which is a violent river"

• Form : focus on facts and examples, empirical pieces of evidence.

• The Republic of Florence: City state of Florence was a "republican government", since 1115 CE(early
12th century), thus ruled by a legislating council of elite men
1. Rulers
2. Nobles
3. The ppl
• Machiavelli's political economy?
16th century city dwellers (rulers, nobles, scholars, monks, soldiers, artists, bureaucrats, merchants)
dependent for food on peasant majority.
-- don't con scate property(and family members); allow ppl to thrive (to acquire more stu , to pursue
their calling); don't overtax
-- A political economy of self-su ciency?

• The beginnings of the end of self-su ciency for Europe

Europeans introduce armed trade on the Mediterranean in order to enter world trade routes
ex) black pepper
-- The voyages of Moroccan scholar lbn Battuta (early 1300s), who follows the traders on their trade
routes: the early modern world is Islamicate (before that, Hinduism and Buddhism)

• Zheng He's treasure ship (400ft) and Columbus' St Maria (85ft)

Western political economy as europe goes into world trade