Just Finished Reading: The Garments of Court and Palace – Machiavelli and the World that He Made by Philip Bobbit (FP: 2013)

Since his works – most especially The Prince – were published in the 16th Century the political theories of Niccolo Machiavelli have been in print ever since. Translated into a host of languages, taught in universities across the globe and treated both as valued assistant and the very spawn of Satan one thing cannot be argued – that this Renaissance figure has had a massive impact on the western world. This is all the more surprising, says the author, as not only have few people read his works but fewer still have understood them.

The Prince – his most recognised work – has, in particular, been misinterpreted and (I must admit) the author of this work makes a series of impressive arguments laying out why. His main thrust is that the book itself is not what it appears to be. It is not (as it is usually advertised) a work instructing a Prince on how to gain and hold power in the ever changing and highly dangerous world of 16th century Italian politics. Although it does contain elements of this it is most certainly not the main thrust. The treatise is aimed squarely at the ‘new Prince’. Not simply one who has recently come into power but the precursor to a completely new type of state – the constitutional republic. The ‘new’ Prince is one who thinks in the ‘new’ way and who has already, or is on the cusp of, turning away from his feudal roots. The book is for him – which is why it seemingly shocked the older-style Prince with its harsh pragmatism and the ability to look reality in the face rather than attempt to see things as they should be in an ideal world. But there is more. There is the historical context to be considered.
At the time he was writing the Italy of Machiavelli consisted of warring city states increasingly at the mercy of the great powers of the day – France, Spain and the Holy Roman Empire. Individual cities, or even cities in temporary alliance, could not hope to stand against these regional superpowers. Only by allying themselves to the great and the good could they hope to survive – but Machiavelli wanted much more than survival: he wanted political independence and saw his advice to new Princes the way forward. Machiavelli, the author maintains, was a many simply ahead of his time. Not only did he foresee the constitutional republican state generations ahead of anyone else he saw such a state as the saviour of Italy. The many misunderstandings of his writings reflect the fact that he was, in effect, writing for future generations and for leaders of states than did not yet exist  but which he would (potentially at least) bring into existence. It’s an interesting idea and one that the author makes a very good case for. Italian political history of that period is both fascinating and deeply disturbing – full of intrigue and frankly alarming characters like Cesare Borgia. When I have the time to at least try to get my head around the twists and turns of that ages diplomatic wrangling’s I’ll give it a go. But that’ll have to wait post-retirement.

Overall I liked this book very much. The author knew his stuff and looked at things from some interesting angles which might actually answer some of the questions raised about Machiavelli and his ideas. From time to time a few faint alarm bells went off – essentially a vague whiff of right-wing thinking – but I just ignored them and read on….. until that is I read the Appendix entitled Machiavelli Today. Here the author made a rather strange observation. He said that Machiavelli stood at the crossroads of a transition between the Feudal State and the more modern Constitutional Republics we all know and love today. Meanwhile in our world we are, at least according to the author of this work, at another political crossroads – this time between the Nation State and the Market State. This Market State defines itself in terms of fostering market expansion to provide a wide range of public goods. Not simply that the Market should be used where it can work best but that the Market IS the system and that government (in its surviving form) has only one function: to ensure that nothing interferes with or disturbs the Market in its operation. So, no Social Security, no State Healthcare, no State education or anything else for that matter. Everything, and the author clearly says EVERYTHING is provided for by the Market. Naturally I disagreed – strongly. Not only would such a system be inhumane it would, necessarily I believe, be very short lived. A full no holds barred Market system would be so horrific that the citizens of any such State would rise up and destroy it before it destroyed them. Personally I would enjoy watching it burn. So, after enjoying this book very much I couldn’t help leaving it with a bad taste in my mouth. I had added a further book from the author to my Amazon Wish List but this has now been removed. But there are plenty more books on a whole host of subjects just waiting to be purchased never fear. Interesting in many ways – just skip the Appendix.