Maurizio Viroli, Redeeming The Prince. The meaning of Machiavelli’s masterpiece

Maquiavelo sobre Éxodo 32: Moisés y el combate de la envidia

“…6 "Por lo tanto, si vuestra ilustre casa quiere emular a aquellos hombres excelentes que redimieron sus países es necesario, ante todo, como verdadero fundamento de cualquier empresa, proveerse de ejércitos propios; porque no existen soldados más fieles, ni más auténticos, ni mejores" (P 26). Concuerdo con Viroli (2014) en que Moisés es una figura central en el pensamiento de Maquiavelo y que ejemplifica tanto la necesidad de estar armado como la de cometer actos crueles para asegurar el Estado fundado por él. Ahora, a diferencia del teórico italiano, que interpreta a Moisés únicamente a propósito de la redención política respecto de enemigos exteriores, en este ensayo ofrezco una lectura que ubica al líder de los judíos en el contexto del conflicto que divide a toda ciudad en dos partes enfrentadas.…”

A New Perspective on Machiavellian Leadership

“…In recent years, most political scientists have dismissed what Cornell and Malcolmson (2009) call "the oldfashioned view" of Machiavelli as "the teacher of power politics if not political thuggery," replacing it with one of two others: that of Machiavelli as "the founder of a realistic modern science of politics" (in which politics is separated from "value considerations") and that of Machiavelli as "the Renaissance humanist … who praised the civic virtue of the Roman citizenry and the liberty inherent in its republicanism" (65). Following in the footsteps of Pocock (1975) and Skinner (1983), researchers such as Benner (2009Benner ( , 2016, Viroli (2014Viroli ( , 2016, and Cosans and Reina (2018) promote the third opinion, claiming Machiavelli actually advances moral arguments against tyranny and corruption and for a free citizenry supported by the rule of law. McCormick (2011McCormick ( , 2019 goes further, asserting that those who highlight Machiavelli's republicanism fail to grasp the importance of his democratic leanings, particularly his desire to "empower[] common citizens to resist domination by wealthy citizens" through popular participation in government (2011,3).…”