Machiavelli (1469-1527)

Nicolo Machiavelli is known as "the father of modern political science."

Biography from Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

In Tuscany, Following the Rise and Fall of Machiavelli, New York Times, December 4, 2014

The Prince

 
A philosopher and ambassador during the Renaissance, Machiavelli is most famous for his political essay, The Prince. 

In The Prince, Machiavelli writes that "a state should be unified, orderly, and in balance; that people should be happy, honorable, secure, and strong; that rulers should do whatever they needed to enforce order."

Complete Text of The Prince (1513)

Excerpts from The Prince from Medieval Sourcebook, Fordham University

Concerning The Way In Which Princes Should Keep Faith” and “Concerning Those Who Have Obtained a Principality By Wickedness 

Machiavellian: being or acting in accordance with the principles of government analyzed in Machiavelli's The Prince, in which political expediency is placed above morality and the use of craft and deceit to maintain the authority and carry out the policies of a ruler is described.

Video Resources

Click here for a video on Machiavelli The Prince.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCL0bI0i-00- A visual summary of the prince going into each part's providing details.

Click here to watch a TED Talk video on Machiavelli.

Machiavelli on Modern Leadership from PBS Video

 Learning Plans

The Prince and Why Machiavelli Still Matters from New York Times Learning Blog

https://www.npr.org/2021/11/16/1056135501/machiavelli-for-women-stacey-vanek-smith - A way to bring the ideas of the prince into the modern day to support female students.

Machiavelli's The Prince is an older, but still useful lesson plan focusing on how students understand leadership and leadership skills