Machiavelli's ideas have been radically re-interpreted in the scope of the current republican revival both in intellectual history and political theory. The "advisor to tyrants" and master of disguise has been replaced by the selfless patriot and the philosopher dedicated to the cause of freedom and to the defense of the commonwealth. Nevertheless, the republican Machiavelli that emerges from the criticism to the traditional interpretation still doesn't have stable and well defined features. What does the nucleus of the Machiavellian republicanism consist of? By mobilizing a series of recent interpreters of Machiavelli, this article examines, in a comparative manner, three interpretation models of the Florentine's political ideas.
Machiavelli; Neo-republicanism; Liberty; Democracy