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This 19th-Century Novel Is a Playbook for Surviving Autocracy
This 19th-Century Novel Is a Playbook for Surviving Autocracy

New York Times

time7 days ago

  • Politics
  • New York Times

This 19th-Century Novel Is a Playbook for Surviving Autocracy

There's been a vogue this year among political pundits for using 'The Prince,' Niccolò Machiavelli's 16th-century guide to autocratic power-boosting, as a cheat sheet for interpreting the hidden motives and unforeseen drama of President Trump's second term. Consisting of 26 short chapters packed with shrewd, cynical advice drawn from myth, history and its author's experience as a Florentine diplomat to the courts of Europe, Machiavelli's manual was written to butter up the Medici family, which had just returned to power in Florence after 18 years in exile. Machiavelli presented his manuscript to Lorenzo de' Medici with a fawning note that read: 'I am anxious to offer myself to your Magnificence with some token of my devotion to you.' 'The Prince' devotes many passages to the power plays that bigwigs in the orbit of autocrats typically attempt. Machiavelli calls such influencers grandi (grandees) and gives the prince tips on how to block their ambitions and keep them fearful and obedient. In his day, grandi included titled nobles, plus government ministers, popes, archbishops, military commanders and anyone with enough wealth and charisma to hold sway. Today, we might call them simply 'elites.' It may seem self-sabotaging of Machiavelli to have offered his ruler insights on how to 'manage' the grandees, who, he stressed, aren't worth worrying about, because the prince 'can make and unmake them every day, increasing and lowering their standing at will.' But Machiavelli wrote his book just months after being imprisoned, tortured and banished from Florence by the new regime, on suspicion of disloyalty. He wrote it, in other words, in hopes of proving his fealty to the Medici, clearing his name and saving his skin. The question arises: Why didn't he write a playbook aimed at his fellow elites instead — to help them avoid incurring the prince's wrath? The answer, of course, is that such a book would have been foolhardy, given the real threat of retribution from the prince and his adherents. And Machiavelli was no fool. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.

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