Reading question 4: Beginning the Discourses (Preface and chapter 1)
https://www.constitution.org/mac/disclivy.pdf
If in The Prince we find Machiavelli's politics to favor monarchical, centralized or "executive" authority, in the Discourses he appears to be something of a committed republican. That is, he favors a politics in which -- if the situation presents itself -- authority and power is dispersed in a polity.
Discuss those passages in the first few chapters of the Discourses where Machiavelli reveals a much different political orientation than we saw in The Prince. Then, explain why he appears to see the wisdom of republican rule in which "the people" have a considerable voice in the management of public affairs.
Sample Solution