IR 3034: The Political theory of Peace and War.

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FIRST ESSAY: « For Machiavelli, the art of war is the supreme test of any polity, whether principality or republic ». Discuss

Introduction:

Quentin Skinner once argued that even if “Machiavelli died nearly 500 years ago, (…) his name lives on as a byword for cunning, duplicity, and the exercise of bad faith in political affairs”1. Indeed, there is no denying that Machiavelli stands probably as one of the most controversial thinker in the history of political theory. In fact, Skinner even argued that “the charge of being a Machiavellian remains a serious accusation in the political debate”2.
As his biographers tell us, Machiavelli came from an Italian family which had been relatively important in the political life of Florence for a long time before his birth, in 1469. At 29 years old, he became second chancellor of the republic, without previous experience, a charge he will keep for more than fourteen years till the return of the Medici’s family. This experience as top official of the Florentine Republic had obviously a huge impact on the development of both his later life, characterized by a succession of disgraces and stroked of bad luck, and his thought. Indeed, as Maurizio Viroli asserts, “Machiavelli considered himself to be an expert on a special art which we call statecraft and he called “arte dello stato”3. There is no denying that, if we look at most of his writings, we will realize that several concepts such as conflict and war play a central part in the system of thought developed by “Old Nick”, as he has less than affectionately been called.

Therefore, can we say that Machiavelli is above all a theorist of the central role of military power and conflict, understood as a test in the existence of any form of government, no matter whether it is a republic or a