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The Municipal Machiavelli

Machiavelli's The Prince Rewritten for Municipal Politicians

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  • Chapters 1-7
  • Chapters 8-14
  • Chapters 15-21
  • Chapters 22-26
  • Addenda
  • Miscellanea
The Municipal Machiavelli

Addenda

The addenda and appendices:

  • Opening Quotes & Dedication
  • Introduction
  • A Brief Biography of Machiavelli
  • About The Prince
  • Machiavelli’s Rules
  • Machiavellian Misquotes
  • Why Machiavelli Matters Today
  • Addendum: The Art of War
  • The Ten Faults
  • Translating Machiavelli
  • Bibliography and Sources

The Prince by Chapter:

I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX X XI XII XIII XIV XV XVI XVII XVIII XIX XX XXI XXII XXIII XXIV XXV XXVI

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Chapters

  • Opening Quotes & Dedication
  • Introduction
  • 1: Home Town Kingdoms
  • 2: Why Incumbents Rule Municipalities
  • 3: Newcomers Versus Incumbents
  • 4: Flexing Your Muscles
  • 5: Troublesome Incumbents & Staff
  • 6: New Ideas Make Enemies
  • 7: With Friends Like These, Who Needs Enemies?
  • 8: Does the End Justify the Means?
  • 9: Problems Newcomers Face
  • 10: Defending Your Position
  • 11: Agencies You Can’t Control
  • 12: Crafty Consultants
  • 13: Dangerous Lobbyists
  • 14: Learn the Rules of War
  • 15: Looking Good, Acting Bad
  • 16: Parsimony Beats Generosity
  • 17: Better to be Feared Than Loved
  • 18: The Subtle Art of Lying
  • 19: All You Need Isn’t Love
  • 20: Factions & Fortresses
  • 21: Saving Your Reputation
  • 22: Loyal Staff & Wise Advisors
  • 23: Avoid Flatterers & Sycophants
  • 24: How Not to be Re-Elected
  • 25: Skill Beats Luck Every Time
  • 26: The Forest and the Trees

Addenda

  • A Brief Biography
  • About The Prince
  • Demonizing Machiavelli
  • Why Machiavelli Matters
  • Machiavelli’s Rules
  • Machiavellian Misquotes
  • Translating Machiavelli
  • Machiavelli’s The Art of War
  • The Ten Faults
  • Quotes from Machiavelli
  • Other Quotes
  • Letter to Francesco Vettori
  • Bibliography & Sources

Miscellanea

  • Machiavelli’s The Art of War
  • The Ten Faults
  • Other Quotes
  • Quotes from Machiavelli
  • Letter to Francesco Vettori

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Web Links

  • My Blog
  • E-Machiavelli
  • Annotated Prince
  • Gutenberg.org
  • The Great Courses
  • Wikipedia
  • Machiavelli Resources
  • Don MacDonald’s Graphic Novel
  • My biography
  • Archived post on leadership

The Municipal Machiavelli

The Municipal Machiavelli is a (mostly) satirical look at Machiavelli's master work, The Prince with commentary and observations, applying his ideas to municipal politics. It is not meant as a scholarly or definitive approach to Machiavelli's philosophy, politics or art. As Juvenal wrote, "Difficile est saturam non scribere:" It is difficult not to write satire.

Similarly, Montaigne wrote, "My natural style is comedy, but one whose form is personal to me, a private style unsuited to public business..." One can only hope the reader gets the humour intended, but appreciation cannot be forced.

However, the author sincerely hopes that in reading his words, you gain some insight into Machiavellian issues, as well as the engaging and sometimes contentious practice of municipal governance and campaigning. And that you get a bit of a chuckle along the way.

The complete work including all pages and posts, are copyright © 2013 by the author, all rights reserved. It will be released as an e-book in 2014.

The blog posts contain recent commentary, insight, book reviews and any material I feel is related to Machiavelli, politics, issues, current or historical events .

Recent Posts

  • Machiavelli’s Prince as satire June 8, 2017
  • Machiavelli for Mayors is almost complete April 29, 2017
  • The skirt-lifting incident March 19, 2017
  • Tim Parks translates The Prince April 16, 2016
  • A Machiavellian Mis-quote February 26, 2016

Excerpts:

How to Read the Municipal Machiavelli

This site is designed to provide two things: my rewrite of and comments on Machiavelli’s 1513 book, The Prince, and to provide space for recent posts and essays about topics related to Machiavelli and his position in politics, society and on the internet today.

My book was written in mid-2012, intended for publication. I have, however, [...]

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Chapter 23: Avoid Flatterers & Sycophants

You know who they are: the people around you who praise your every decision, who tell you how smart you are, how wise you are, how brave you are, what a nice suit you’re wearing today. These are the flatterers, the sycophants, the smooth talkers. They deceive you with lush words that make you feel [...]

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Server upgrade coming

Sometime in the next two weeks, I will be amalgamating servers for the several sites I manage and conflating them onto one, new and (I hope) faster and more efficient server. There may be some downtime while the files and databases migrate, like virtual birds, to their new home.

I hope that the digital gods of [...]

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A Brief Biography of Machiavelli

In order to appreciate Machiavelli, it is necessary to have at least a superficial understanding of his life and environment. Although his ideas are timeless, he was very much a product of his time and place – the Italian Renaissance. Five hundred years later, his ideas generally hold up well in today’s current corporate and [...]

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Chapter 7: With Friends Like These, Who Needs Enemies?

Sometimes you win an election because you were lucky: you happened to be in the right place at the right time. A few years ago, when the federal Conservative and Reform parties were independent and competing, they both often ran candidates in one riding. The result was a split vote on the right that let a [...]

Read More

Recent Comments

  • Respect, Not Admiration – Unodiscuss Blog on Chapter 17: Better to be Feared Than Loved
  • I Think My Brother Won't Speak to Me Because I Voted for Trump - Page 13 - Talk About Marriage on Machiavelli’s Rules
  • References – Truth in Politics on Chapter 18: The Subtle Art of Lying
  • Wärme und Kompetenz – Gut geführt? on Chapter 17: Better to be Feared Than Loved
  • America Has Fallen. But She Can Recover and Run Again. – The Conservative Historical Review on Chapter 8: Does the End Justify the Means?
  • Home
  • Chapters 1-7
  • Chapters 8-14
  • Chapters 15-21
  • Chapters 22-26
  • Addenda
  • Miscellanea
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