CMV: I think Niccolo Machiavelli has an undeservedly poor reputation.

By RustyMaple1992

Machiavelli feels like he’s gotten a really unfair reputation to me. “Machiavellian” basically gets used as a stand-in for “political realist who does nasty stuff.” Like, Francis Underwood from *House of Cards* gets labeled that way a lot. Sure, I get why people connect them, but it also feels like it unfairly links Machiavelli with being bad in general. I’ve read *The Prince* and I’m partway through the *Discourses*, and neither one seems to me like it’s just flat-out saying “go do evil.” If anything, it seems more like he only talks about morally iffy moves in situations where it’s for something bigger—either “the greater good” or just keeping the state going. And the state surviving doesn’t automatically mean it’s morally good or morally bad. Another thing that bugs me is that most people seem to know him mainly from *The Prince*, which is kind of short compared to the *Discourses*. My understanding is it was also written with the Medici in mind, like trying to win favor, not for some bigger long-term project. I’m not trying to claim it’s a satire—I think it’s clearly meant seriously—but I still don’t think it’s the best snapshot of his politics. The *Discourses* (and I think even early parts of *The Prince*) make it seem like he cared a lot more about a republic of the people than an autocracy. Anyway, that’s what I’ve got for now. I feel like I’m probably missing something, or I just wrote this awkwardly and can’t see where to fix it right now.