The Oligarch
Rewriting Machiavelli's The Prince for Our Time
Published on 17. August 2017
Book
Paperback/Softback
XI, 157 pages
978-3-319-62168-5 (ISBN)
Description
This book uses the structure of Machiavelli's
The Prince
to show how governance has changed over the last 500 years. If Machiavelli focuses on power concentrated in the hands of the republic or principalities, The Oligarch looks at how states and companies today function as oligarchies. Rather than dealing with the form of government, it addresses the operations and networks of governance for both states and corporations as a single set of common processes. The author links politics, ecology and literature, by using the literary device of appropriation to raise awareness of ecology and the overreach of powerful people, offering both wielders and critics of power a common ground based on how people in power actually conduct themselves.
Reviews / Votes
"Admirers of Machiavelli's ideas and style will enjoy this slim and provocative book which addresses a topic dear to the Florentine secretary: the role of elites in society and politics. James Sherry adds a new twist by taking account of the work of twentieth century 'Machiavellians' such as Gaetano Mosca, early James Burnham, as well as the networks described by ecologists. The result is a smart and ironic view of the contemporary networks of oligarchs, in business as well as in politics and society. Readers interested in such different topics as populism, corporate business, high-level politics and the inevitable Donald Trump will find food for thought-accompanied by Machiavellian wit." (Giovanni Giorgini, Professor of Political Theory, University of Bologna, Italy and Princeton University, USA)"500 years after Machiavelli, James Sherry offers us a modern [and wide-ranging] treatise on the oligarchs who now rule our world and how they gain and maintain power. One wonders if the pejorative 'Sherryan' will be hurled at the power plays of future oligarchs." (Jeff Cohen, Director, Park Center for Independent Media, Ithaca College, USA)
More details
Edition
1st ed. 2018
Language
English
Place of publication
Cham
Switzerland
Publishing group
Springer International Publishing
Illustrations
XI, 157 p.
Dimensions
Height: 210 mm
Width: 148 mm
Thickness: 10 mm
Weight
231 gr
ISBN-13
978-3-319-62168-5 (9783319621685)
DOI
10.1007/978-3-319-62169-2
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
08/2017
Palgrave Macmillan
€37.44
Available for download
Person
James Sherry
is the author of 12 books of criticism and poetry, most recently
Oops! Environmental Poetics
(2013) and
Entangled Bank
(2016). He is the editor of Roof Books, a literary press (roofbooks.com) in New York City, USA.
Content
Section 1: Types of Oligarchies.- Section 2: Details of Acquisition and Management of Organizations.- Section 3: Oligarchic Forms.- Section 4: Managing Assets in Organizations.- Section 5: Guidance on Oligarchic Comportment.- Section 6: The Projects of Oligarchs.- Section 7: Good Offices.- Section 8: Risk Management and Marketplace Mentality.