Machiavelli and the End of Nobility in Politics

Machiavelli has a bad name. But so, now, does politics. We no longer talk or write much about “statesmen” or “statesmanship.” We speak instead of “politicians” or, at most, “leaders,” about whose motives and honesty we have considerable doubts. In the second half of the twentieth century, “liberal democracies” and “people’s republics” began to be considered the only legitimate forms of government. Yet, despite the apparent victory of democracy, popular trust in the institutions of government continues to plummet. A fresh reading of Machiavelli’s classic treatise suggests that these phenomena are not unrelated. Machiavelli thought it was necessary to debunk the noble pretensions of political actors to make governments responsive, if not responsible to the desires of the governed. He also urged the people to be suspicious of the motives and goals of the individuals to whom they entrusted the powers of government.