Original version

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa Schedule

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa

The Forum

Documentaries

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

The programme that explains the present by exploring the past

The programme that explains the present by exploring the past.

BBC World Service Online

BBC World Service schedule for American satellite radio and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Australasia

BBC World Service East Asia

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

BBC World Service South Asia

BBC World Service

BBC World Service West and Central Africa Schedule

BBC World Service West and Central Africa

The Forum: Machiavelli - Master of Power

Discussion & Talk

Circa 1499, Italian statesman, political writer and philosopher Niccolò Machiavelli  (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

08/04/2017 GMT

Machiavelli - Master of Power

BBC World Service - The Forum, Machiavelli - Master of Power

The life and reputation of Niccolò Machiavelli’s ‘The Prince’

The story and meaning of Machiavelli‘s ‘The Prince’, long read as a manual on power and what it entails. Rajan Datar talks to Erica Benner, David Ignatius and Quentin Skinner.

Over five hundred years ago, dismissed diplomat Niccolò Machiavelli produced his most famous work, ‘The Prince’. Written on the fringes of the Italian city of Florence, the book has long been read as a priceless guide to power and what holding it truly involves. But who was the man behind the work? Why did he claim that a leader must be prepared to act immorally? And why did the name of this one-time political insider become a byword for cunning and sinister strategy?

Rajan Datar explores the life and impact of Machiavelli’s ‘The Prince’, with writer and scholar Erica Benner, historian Professor Quentin Skinner and journalist David Ignatius.

Image:Circa 1499, Niccolò Machiavelli (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Accessibility links

Programme Index

The Forum

Machiavelli - Master of Power

Genres

Formats

Brand

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa

About BBC World Service