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The Republic of Venice

De magistratibus et republica Venetorum

Gasparo Contarini author Amanda Murphy translator Giuseppe Pezzini translator Filippo Sabetti editor

Format:Paperback

Publisher:University of Toronto Press

Published:1st Jun '22

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The Republic of Venice cover

At a time when social scientists are increasingly focusing on the reasons why nations fail and democracies die, Filippo Sabetti turns to the opposite issue, asking instead why institutions endure. To do so, he presents Gasparo Contarini’s sixteenth-century description of the Republic of Venice to help modern readers understand what made Venice the longest-lived self-constituted republic.

In its long history, Venice was the only city that succeeded in constructing a durable republicanism, and it was one of the earliest to depart from the hierarchical world of national monarchies and sovereignties. Sabetti suggests that students of politics will find Contarini’s The Republic of Venice just as instructive, if not more so, as Machiavelli’s The Prince. In his analysis of human nature, Contarini matches Machiavelli's secularism and realism, but goes much further; examining the case of Venice, he shows how it is possible for fallible human beings to construct a successful and stable government. This is the first modern English-language edition of Contarini’s classic work, based directly on the original Latin.

The Republic of Venice gives the reader a good look at the institutions and ideas that fostered the city’s success and also how some of those came to influence to the institutions of the young United States.” -- A. A. Nofi * StrategyPage *

ISBN: 9781487546021

Dimensions: 226mm x 152mm x 18mm

Weight: 240g

200 pages