The positive character of the conflict in the republic in Machiavelli's Discorsi is well known in international and national academic debates. The aim of this paper is to explore how conflict of interests is approached in that work as well as its scope. In order to do this, conceptions of liberty and greatness are also explored. From that debate, Machiavellian conflict is characterized as composed by collective and common interests, which can be expressed by public and transparent institutional devices. Therefore, it becomes a constitutive part of republican freedom. Such interpretation certainly gives his work a very fruitful timeliness.
conflict; interest; Machiavelli; republic; greatness