Mulieri breaks new ground by connecting Machiavelli's political philosophy to Aristotelian thought-a dialogue long neglected in scholarship. This rigorous and well-researched study reveals fresh insights into fundamental questions of political theory. Essential reading for political philosophers and intellectual historians.

Filippo Del Lucchese, professor of Political Philosophy, Alma mater studiorum, Università di Bologna

Machiavelli, Aristotle, and Popular Republicanism by Alessandro Mulieri provides an indispensable corrective to the view that Machiavelli was a wholehearted opponent of Aristotle's (and Polybius's) view of mixed governments or republics. Mulieri shows definitively that the Florentine appropriated much more than he rejected salient aspects of the civic republicanism espoused by his Greek antecedents. The book is a must read in early modern political thought and republican political theory.

John P. McCormick Karl J. Weintraub Professor in Political Science and the College Faculty Director, Program in Law, Letters, and Society

Alessandro Mulieri's Machiavelli, Aristotle, and Popular Republicanism represents an important addition to Machiavelli scholarship. Identifying crucial angles of investigation (including virtue and fortune, but also prudence), Mulieri offers convincing explanations of Machiavelli's affinities or implicit dialogue with ancient and medieval sources. Adopting an interdisciplinary perspective, Machiavelli, Aristotle, and Popular Republicanism enriches our understanding of Machiavelli and his intellectual context, while offering a contribution to the history of the Aristotelian tradition.

Eva Del Soldato, Associate Professor of Italian Studies, University of Pennsylvania

Mulieri's book provides the strongest argument to date for Machiavelli's debt to radical Aristotelianism. Mulieri consolidates Machiavelli's stature as a decisive thinker of democracy

Miguel Vatter, Professor of Politics, Deakin University

This book provides a fresh perspective on Machiavelli's hybrid Aristotelianism, examining the impact of political Aristotelianism on his radical ideas about the “Popular State.” By focusing on this specific aspect, it advances research into Machiavelli's plebeian philosophy, offering a nuanced understanding that moves beyond the connection between Aristotelian naturalism and Machiavelli's impiety and irreligious view of the nature of the political.

Jérémie Barthas (CNRS, Paris), author of Machiavelli costituzionalista

In all his works, Machiavelli disputed Aristotle's main political beliefs. He praised regulated conflict rather than concord; he did not believe in the stabilizing power of the middle class; he admired Rome's conquests and criticized the idea that republics should avoid excessive expansion; he did not think that the different virtues formed a system, and contested the equivalence of virtue with the golden mean... This is all true. But now Alessandro Mulieri reveals another, unforeseen Machiavelli: deeply influenced by radical Aristotelianism and ready to build his plebeian republicanism upon Aristotle's most pro-popular stances. This is a discovery that will change the very way we recount the history of political thought between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.

Gabriele Pedullà