The German Machiavelo: Around the Max Weber by Friedrich Meinecke

Abstract

Max Weber’s work has been frequently related with Machiavelli’s political thought. Apprehend the specific relationship between Weber and Machiavelli seems to be the key to establish Weber’s closeness to political realism. The present article deals with the specific comparison between Machiavelli and Weber that Friedrich Meinecke made in 1922. After this early comparison the parallelism between both thin kerswill be a constant. The first part of the article will be devoted to the especific lecture of Weber that Meinecke where the comparison with Machiavelli’s political thought appears. The second part will be dedicated to the Meinecke’s Machiavelli interpretation in order to gain accuracy over the comparison. From Weber to Machiavelli and then from Machiavelli back to Weber. After both parts the final reflections take place where we will summarize what we have obtained in the article and finally we will analyze Meinecke’s lecture pertinence in comparing it with Weber’s own statements about political realism.