A Man Out of Time: Machiavelli’s Contribution and the Reawakening of our Political Imagination

Niccolo Machiavellli employed an anachronistic conversation between ancient historical authorities and modern political actors to imagine alternative forms of republican life at a time of sterility and oligarchy. He shows us, thereby, how to emulate his method at our own moment of democratic crisis. Indeed, contemporary attacks on democratic legitimacy, equality, citizen agency, and free speech by a small group of conspiracy-minded, corrupt and wealthy actors provide exactly the sort of dynamic moment Machiavelli insists we seize upon. As an example of the benefits of this anachronistic method, I offer a reading of the gap between the discussion of conspiracy in Book III, Chapter 6 of the Discourses and the conspiracy theories of ‘rigged elections’ that has proved so toxic in our own moment of democratic instability. A conversation between Machiavelli's moment and his anachronistic method points to the forms of reading and avoiding politics in our time to and suggests that, if we read this model with care, we should take his demand that we follow in his footsteps to renew our own republic.