MTSU Honors Lecture Series: Machiavelli's Prince as a Rational Political Actor, with Dr. Ennio Piano
MTSU economics scholar Ennio Piano, Ph.D., provides a scholarly interpretation of Niccolò Machiavelli's Il Principe (The Prince) as part of the Exegesis Spring 2022 Honors College Lecture Series at Middle Tennessee State University.
As The Prince provides several case studies from Roman history and contemporary Italian politics, Piano analyzes the text through the lens of public choice economics and focuses on Machiavelli’s hypothesis on the successes and failures of rulers who want to maintain power.
Piano's lecture on March 14, 2022, featured a hands-on exhibit of the 1640 first English edition of “The Prince,” on loan from The Remnant Trust, Inc. collection of historic texts.First appearing in 1513, Machiavelli's Prince was written in response to the troubled conditions and dissonance in Italy. Machiavelli developed a practical examination and guide of how power should function for ruling the people. The Prince is considered to be one of the foundational works of modern political philosophy and a classic work of political science.
Piano is an Assistant Professor of Economics at MTSU and a faculty member of the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI). He studies the organization of incentives in a variety of contexts, from 19th-century armies to motorcycle gangs, from high-end restaurants to Renaissance art markets.
The MTSU Honors College offered this lecture in partnership with the PERI and the Remnant Trust.
