ABSTRACT
KEYNOTE: Niccolò Machiavelli, the Preeminent Public Administration Ethicist It has been more than five centuries since his birth, but Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527) remains the most quoted, most read, most interpreted, and most misunderstood public policy adviser who ever lived. By the time William Shakespeare wrote Richard III in 1592, he could assume that his audience would be familiar with Machiavelli’s diabolical reputation. Thus Shakespeare could have his title character introduce himself as being so evil that he could “set the murderous Machiavelli to
school.” Similar references to Machiavelli as the personification of evil abound in the plays and literature of Shakespeare’s time and have continued ever since.
