The many and the few : Machiavelli's and Guicciardini's critique of aristocratic regimes / Mark Jurdjevic.
| Author/creator | Jurdjevic, Mark author |
| Format | Book |
| Publication | Toronto ; Buffalo ; London : University of Toronto Press, [2026] |
| Copyright Date | ©2026 |
| Description | 239 pages ; 24 cm |
| Subjects |
| Portion of title | Machiavelli's and Guicciardini's critique of aristocratic regimes |
| Series | Toronto Italian studies Toronto Italian studies. ^A362209 |
| Contents | Machiavelli and Guicciardini: Background and Relationship -- Populist Perspectives in Guicciardini's On the Method of Electing Offices in the Great Council -- Radical Virtù in The Prince and the Ricordi -- Deconstructing Regimes of the Few in Guicciardini's Dialogue on the Government of Florence -- Cognitive Dissonance in Guicciardini's Considerations on the "Discourses of Machiavelli" -- Machiavelli and Guicciardini on Cesare Borgia's "Good Government": Chapter 7 of The Prince Revisited. |
| Abstract | "The Many and the Few reconstructs a pattern of recurring populist themes in the writings of Francesco Guicciardini and Niccolò Machiavelli. These two pioneering thinkers of the late Renaissance are almost always presented in terms of dramatic contrasts - while Machiavelli's violent populism and scorn for aristocratic culture is well established, many consider Guicciardini the most influential Renaissance advocate of narrow, elitist regimes. In The Many and the Few, Mark Jurdjevic challenges these pre-existing beliefs and argues that Guicciardini was a vastly more complex thinker who subjected his own aristocratic ideals to devastating scrutiny. From his very first to very last texts, Guicciardini consistently embedded an alternate narrative in which he thoroughly embraced, and arguably exceeded, Machiavelli's view of the innately positive qualities of the people and destructive qualities of the elites. Subsequent "republican" writers, such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau and James Madison, all claimed Guicciardini as one of the chief Renaissance exemplars of a longstanding tradition of aristocratic, senatorial politics, but The Many and the Few demonstrates that Guicciardini's contribution was a Trojan horse: it appeared to confirm this tradition even while affirming every aspect of Machiavelli's critique."-- Provided by publisher. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| Other forms | Issued also in electronic format. |
| Issued in other form | Online version: Jurdjevic, Mark. Many and the few. Toronto ; Buffalo ; London : University of Toronto Press, 2026 1487566913 9781487566913 |
| Genre/form | Biographies. |
| Genre/form | Biographies. |
| ISBN | 9781487566869 |
| ISBN | 1487566867 (hardcover) |
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