'n Herbeoordeling van Niccolò Machiavelli se die-doel-heilig-die-middele-benadering tot regeer-kunde

Abstract

A reassessment of Niccolò Machiavelli’s the-end-justifies-the-means approach to governance This article reassesses Niccolò Machiavelli’s contribution to political governance theory and practice. At the height of the Renaissance, Machiavelli was one of the most influential intellectuals. He was also a consummate and influential senior strategist, diplomat, negotiator and public official in the “democratic” Florentine Republic from 1494 to 1512. He gained extensive governance experience before the republican government was toppled in a coup by a member of its former absolutist Medici rulers, and he was arrested as a traitor, tortured and exiled from Florence. He remained in exile until his death in 1527.