Tyranny A New Interpretation

This is the first comprehensive exploration of ancient and modern tyranny in the history of political thought. Waller R. Newell argues that modern tyranny and statecraft differ fundamentally from the classical understanding. Newell demonstrates a historical shift in emphasis from the classical thinkers' stress on the virtuous character of rulers and the need for civic education to the modern emphasis on impersonal institutions and cold-blooded political method. By diagnosing the varieties of tyranny from erotic voluptuaries like Nero, the steely determination of reforming conquerors like Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar and modernizing despots such as Napoleon and Ataturk to the collectivist revolutions of the Jacobins, Bolsheviks, Nazis and Khmer Rouge, Newell shows how tyranny is every bit as dangerous to free democratic societies today as it was in the past.

Acknowledgments; Introduction: the conquest of eros; 1. The ontology of tyranny; 2. The tyrant and the statesman in Plato's political philosophy and Machiavelli's rejoinder; 3. Superlative virtue, monarchy, and political community in Aristotle's Politics; 4. Tyranny and the art of ruling in Xenophon's Education of Cyrus; 5. Machiavelli, Xenophon, and Xenophon's Cyrus; 6. Glory and reputation: Machiavelli's new prince; 7. The republic in motion: Machiavelli's vision of the new Rome; Conclusion: tyranny ancient and modern; Epilogue: the hermeneutical problem of tyranny; Bibliography.

Waller R. Newell is Professor of Political Science and Philosophy at Carleton University. He is the author of The Soul of a Leader: Character, Conviction, and Ten Lessons in Political Greatness (2009), The Code of Man: Love, Courage, Pride, Family, Country (2003) and Ruling Passion: The Erotics of Statecraft in Platonic Political Philosophy (2000).