Machiavelli in Tumult

The Discourses on Livy and the Origins of Political Conflictualism

Gabriele Pedullà

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9781107177277
• eBook ISBN: 9781316829974
• Topic: Philosophy
• Subtopic: Political Philosophy

Among the theses that for centuries have ensured Niccolò Machiavelli an ambiguous fame, a special place goes to his extremely positive opinion of social conflicts, and, more in particular, to the claim that in ancient Rome 'the disunion between the plebs and the Roman senate made that republic free and powerful' (Discourses on Livy I.4). Contrary to a long tradition that had always highly valued civic concord, Machiavelli thought that - at least under certain conditions - internecine discord could be a source of strength and not of weakness, and built upon this daring proposition an original vision of political order. Machiavelli in Tumult (originally published in Italian in 2011) is the first book-length study entirely devoted to analyzing this idea, its ancient roots (never before identified), its enduring (but often invisible) influence up until the American and the French Revolution (and beyond), and its relevance for contemporary political theory.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-title
• Title page
• Copyright information
• Dedication
• Table of contents
• List of Figures and Tables
• Acknowledgments
• Notes on the Text
• List of Abbreviations
• Epigraph
• Introduction
• 1 Concordia Parvae Res Crescunt
• 2 “A Necessary Inconvenience”
• 3 Fear and Virtue
• 4 “The Guard of Liberty”
• 5 “Giving the Foreigners Citizenship”
• 6 Dionysius’ Reappearance
• 7 Remembering Conflict
• Index of Machavelli’s Works
• General Index