Thoughts about Machiavelli’s Thoughts

Professor de Alvarez has done a useful service by providing a degree of structure to The Prince, grouping its chapters into a series of sections that share common overarching themes. These four themes – the different characters of principalities, how to address various types of armed forces, the qualities a prince should seek, and how a prince may behave wisely – are elucidated at the outset of de Alvarez’s book, and mentioned periodically throughout it. His structure helps to compensate for the absence of such framing material within The Prince itself. De Alvarez also makes the useful case that The Prince gradually builds towards its final chapter, an exhortation to liberate Italy. The earlier chapters present guidance on war, government, and wisdom in ways that can enable Lorenzo de’ Medici (presumably, with Machiavelli’s help) to acquire and then securely rule the entire peninsula.

Moreover, the author has thoughtfully connected The Prince with Machiavelli’s own biography and circumstances, where appropriate. For example, in discussing the chapter regarding the prince’s ministers (chapter 22), de Alvarez reminds us that Machiavelli’s comments are somewhat self-serving. In this chapter, Machiavelli harps on the need to find trustworthy ministers who put their prince’s interests first; this befits an ousted minister who is trying to convince Lorenzo de’ Medici that he, Machiavelli, is such a man. Moreover, Machiavelli indicates the importance of amply rewarding such ministers. De Alvarez does not allow the breadth of Machiavelli’s ideas to overshadow the simple reality that that The Prince was also an application for reinstatement.

Unfortunately, much of the book reads like a collection of the author’s lecture notes for presenting The Prince to students. The Machiavellian Enterprise is structured so that each chapter mirrors one in Machiavelli’s book. Each chapter then offers various observations and raises numerous questions about the corresponding chapter in The Prince itself. Some of the observations are more useful than others, and while the author does answer some of the questions that he raises, others are not explicitly answered as the discussion shifts to other topics. One can readily envision the author or another professor calling on a student to ask some of these various questions, which could then stimulate thoughtful group discussions. However, this does not work as well in a printed medium, in which the reader is left wondering what the author has to say on the subject. It is particularly galling to have multiple questions posed in succession, in the absence of clear responses to any of them.

It would be useful to have the best parts of this book condensed into an introduction that preceded the text of The Prince itself, perhaps with additional comments reserved for a concluding chapter after the reader had completed the work. (These items could be added to de Alvarez’s own translation of The Prince, which already includes some useful contextual material.) Professors could also use many of the notes and questions that the book provides to inform their own lectures and stimulate class discussions.

However, as a stand-alone book, The Machiavellian Enterprise has limited appeal to a wider audience.

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StrategyPage reviews are published in cooperation with The New York Military Affairs Symposium