Niccolo Machiavelli

Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527) is the author of the Discourses. He was a well-known Italian statesman, writer, philosophy, diplomat and political scientist. Machiavelli is most well-known for writing The Prince, which was composed in 1513 and published after his death in 1532. Because of Machiavelli's advice in The Prince, the term "Machiavellian" has become a widely used term for wily and deceptive politicking.

The Prince consisted in advice to Princes or monarchs, but the Discourses were written to give advice to republics. Some think that the work was initially a commentary on Livy's history of the Roman Empire and a general theory of republican government, though the book now seems to be regarded as largely a treatise on republicanism and only secondarily as a commentary on Livy's history, due to the fact that Livy's history is used primarily to illustrate Machiavelli's views on the structure and function of republican government...