Machiavelli, Niccolò di Bernardo dei

Machiavelli, Niccolò di Bernardo dei ( 1469 – 1527 )
Italian statesman and political philosopher. After holding high office in Florence he was exiled by the Medicis on suspicion of conspiracy, but was subsequently restored to some degree of favour. His best-known work is The Prince ( 1532 ), a treatise on statecraft advising rulers that the acquisition and effective use of power may necessitate unethical methods that are not in themselves desirable. He is thus often regarded as the originator of a political pragmatism in which ‘the end justifies the means’.