Machiavelli’s inversion: The political institutionalisation of social conflict in Machiavelli’s Republicanism

Abstract

This thesis investigates Niccolò Machiavelli’s theory of internal conflict and its connection to contemporary agonism. Through an analysis of the internal conflicts in the Discourses on Livy and Florentine Histories, this thesis elucidates the nuanced connotations of Machiavelli’s thinking on internal conflict. Machiavelli argues that the conflict between the plebs and the nobles played a crucial role in the freedom and power of the Roman Republic. This re-evaluation of social conflict challenges the prevailing negative perception of political conflict from the late Roman Republic to the Renaissance. According to Machiavelli, internal conflicts within a republic can never be completely eradicated and the key lies in how to regulate these conflicts through institutionalisation, thereby creating new institutions conducive to freedom and providing the republic with the strength to maintain and even expand itself. Notably, Machiavelli emphasises the interdependence and mutual influence between a republic’s institutions and its customs or ethos. This was a crucial issue for Machiavelli because the entrenched factional politics in the Florentine Republic posed a crucial challenge to establishing a reasonable system for conflict regulation. However, it is also a theoretically important issue for us because it raises questions about contemporary forms of agonistic political theory. Agonism highlights the inevitability of competition in politics and endeavours to find constructive approaches to handle conflicts. However, existing agonism theories primarily focus on ethos rather than institutions, whereas reflecting on Machiavelli offers an opportunity to develop an institutionalised agonism that underscores the complementarity of ethos and institutions.

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ORCID for Piao Mao: orcid.org/0000-0001-9635-3975

ORCID for David Owen: orcid.org/0000-0002-8865-6332

ORCID for Jonathan JE Havercroft: orcid.org/0000-0003-0995-8912

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