Taming the Prince

In a masterful survey of Western political thought ranging from Aristotle to The Federalist Papers, Harvey Mansfield shows for the first time how the doctrine of executive power arose and how it has developed to the present day. Although there were various "proto-executives," from Roman dictators to Christian kings, the modern executive first appears with Machiavelli's The Prince. Yet Machiavelli's strong -- even cruel -- leader undermines republican theory. Subsequent philosophers, Mansfield argues, seized upon the Prince and transformed him by deft manipulations into the American president. Liberalized by Locke, constitutionalized by Montesquieu, Machiavelli's bloodthirsty executive was finally "tamed" by channeling his antinomian energies into a uniquely flexible constitutional framework.