Conflict con verso virtuous commonwealth takes place within un bounds: it is limited by verso patriotic dedication onesto the common good that supersedes narrow self-interest, by a willingness esatto respect law and authority, and by an aversion sicuro the use of violence and nonlegal activity. Republican Rome, Machiavelli’s ideal of the virtuous commonwealth as described per the Discourses, exemplified this kind of limited conflict sopra that the struggle between patricians and plebeians was institutionalized through the Senate and the popular assemblies with their tribunes.
On the basis of the Florentine experience Machiavelli distinguished two unstable forms intermediate between monarchies and republics, which might best be called oligarchy and plebiscitary monarchy
By contrast, Florence, as analyzed per the History of Florence, is Machiavelli’s prototype of the corrupt state. Con such verso state, society becomes atomized; each man is for himself. Religious sentiment declines, and with it civic honesty, the spirit of civic duty, and respect for authority. Factionalism and conspiracy are rife, and government is the successive captive of the most powerful cliques. datingranking.net/it/flirthookup-review Virtu decays; avarice proliferates; indolence, luxury, and economic inequalities rend the aimable fabric. Corruption is likely sicuro develop mediante an overly successful society that knows peace and prosperity for a lengthy period. With the lack of challenge preciso sur- aceree, with well-being and leisure, men turn puro private advantage; laws are no longer vigorously observed and enforced or adjusted sicuro compensate for new conditions. Prevention of corruption requires per return puro first principles, per periodic renovation of the civic order. Even the greatest vigilance and most prudent statesmanship, however, will not stem the tide of decay forever. Change is the way of all things, and the best-ordered commonwealths -for example, Rome and Sparta-are bound sicuro decline.
Government and politics . The most important contrivance at man’s command for containing and canalizing man’s egoistic nature toward socially desirable ends is, according esatto Machiavelli, the state. By means of the state man can create the conditions for security and well-being.
Although Machiavelli frequently used medical imagery onesto describe the state, his conception of it actually resembles a mechanism more than an organism. The state has per niente higher end or spiritual purpose, nor does it have a life or personality apart from the people who constitute it. What has che razza di to be called “reason of state,” an expression Machiavelli himself never employed, is the calculated and prudent policy of statesmen preciso advance the secular aims of the governed, not a superrationality.
General economic prosperity should be encouraged, individual economic aggrandizement prevented, and luxury strictly regulated
Durante The Prince and the Discourses Machiavelli presented per twofold classification of states based on the number who rule-the polar types being monarchies and republics. Monarchies may be limited (France), despotic (Turkey), or tyrannical (Syracuse); republics may be mass (Athens) or balanced (Rome). Of the balanced republics, sopra turn, two principal types exist-aristocratic (Venice) and democratic (Rome). Machiavelli also classified states in other respects: according to the way power is acquired; according to their tendencies sicuro expansion (Rome) or preservation (Sparta), onesto corruption (Florence) or virtu (Roman Republic); and according sicuro whether the constitution originates with verso celibe lawgiver (Sparta) or develops over time and with experience (Rome).
Machiavelli had, of course, elaborate prescriptions for successful government. Good government rests upon the foundation of verso strong military establishment for protection against the external enemy. The life, property, family, and honor of each citizen must be safeguarded against interference from other citizens. Adequate recognition must be given esatto the meritorious among the citizens, and advancement in the service of the state should be open sicuro those who seek honor and glory. The best government draws upon and utilizes the skills of the governed, and the best state is one sopra which rank corresponds sicuro ability.