ILI-D "Strategist" γ Gamma

Niccolò Machiavelli

Thinker / Diplomat · Italian · 15th–16th c.

Italian thinker and diplomat (1469–1527). In The Prince he argued that "the end justifies the means" in realpolitik — giving his name to "Machiavellianism." As a Florentine diplomat he served the republic directly; after its fall he wrote from enforced retirement. The founder of modern political science, his work remains the most unflinching analysis of how power actually operates.