ABSTRACT
Prior to discussing Machiavelli’s doctrines, it is necessary to provide some historical background. Throughout the fifteenth century, a single family, the Medicis, had run Machiavelli’s Florence. They had governed Florence as a ruling elite, while making it appear that they were maintaining a republic as opposed to a monarchy. A republic is different from a monarchy in the sense that the latter is governed by a king whose authority derives from family background. A republic on the other hand is a political regime united around promoting a conception of the common good, but it is also presumed that the authority of the government in a republic rests upon citizen participation in determining the common good and the laws that enshrine it.
