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What do modern republics have to fear? Machiavelli's Florentine Republic reconstructs Machiavelli's answer to this question from the perspective of the Florentine Histories, his most probing meditation on the fate of republican politics in the modern age. It argues that his principle goal in narrating the defeat of Florentine republicanism is to debunk the views of leading humanists concerning the overall health of republican politics in modernity and the distinctive challenges that modern republics should expect to face. The Medici family had exposed these vulnerabilities better than anyone else, and Machiavelli reconstructs their political strategy to show how conventional ideas of moral and political virtue are the most potent instruments of princely ambition in a city that wants to be free.
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Machiavelli’s Florentine Republic
What do modern republics have to fear? Machiavelli’s Florentine Republics reconstructs Machiavelli’s answer to this question from the perspective of the Florentine Histories, his most probing meditation on the fate of republican politics in the modern age. It argues that his principle goal in narrating the defeat of Florentine republicanism is to debunk the views of leading humanists concerning the overall health of republican politics in modernity and the distinctive challenges that modern republics should expect to face. The Medici family had exposed these vulnerabilities better than anyone else, and Machiavelli reconstructs their political strategy to show how conventional ideas of moral and political virtue are the most potent instruments of princely ambition in a city that wants to be free. Michelle T. Clarke is Associate Professor of Government at Dartmouth College. She received her Ph.D. in Political Science from Yale University in 2007. Clarke’s research focuses on Machiavelli, Florentine humanism, Roman political thought, and interpretive methods. Her work has been published in the Journal of Politics, History of Political Thought, Political Studies, Political Research Quarterly, and the Review of Politics.
Machiavelli’s Florentine Republic
MICHELLE T. CLARKE Dartmouth College
University Printing House, Cambridge cb2 8bs, United Kingdom One Liberty Plaza, 20th Floor, New York, ny 10006, USA 477 Williamstown Road, Port Melbourne, vic 3207, Australia 314–321, 3rd Floor, Plot 3, Splendor Forum, Jasola District Centre, New Delhi - 110025, India 79 Anson Road, #06-04/06, Singapore 079906 Cambridge University Press is part of the University of Cambridge. It furthers the University’s mission by disseminating knowledge in the pursuit of education, learning and research at the highest international levels of excellence. www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9781107125506 doi: 10.1017/9781316410776 C Michelle T. Clarke 2018
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2018 Printed in the United States of America by Sheridan Books, Inc. A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data Names: Clarke, Michelle T., author. Title: Machiavelli’s Florentine republic / Michelle T. Clarke. Description: Cambridge, United Kingdom ; New York, NY : Cambridge University Press, 2018. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: lccn 2018000411 | isbn 9781107181717 (alk. paper) Subjects: LCSH: Machiavelli, Niccolao, 1469–1527. Istorie fiorentine. | Florence (Italy) – Politics and government – 1421–1737. | Republicanism – Italy – Florence – History – 16th century. Classification: lcc dg736.3.m333 c55 2018 | ddc 945/.506 – dc23 LC record ava