Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli (May 3, 1469 – June 21, 1527) is an Italian Renaissance historian, politician, diplomat, philosopher, humanist, and writer.

He has often been called the founder of modern political science.

He is for many years a senior official in the Florentine Republic, with responsibilities in diplomatic and military affairs.

He also writes comedies, carnival songs, and poetry.

His personal correspondence is renowned in the Italian language.

He is secretary to the Second Chancery of the Republic of Florence from 1498 to 1512, when the Medici are out of power.

He writes his most renowned work The Prince (Il Principe) in 1513 after the Medici have recovered power and he no longer holds a position of responsibility in Florence.

His views on the importance of a strong ruler who is not afraid to be harsh with his subjects and enemies are most likely influenced by the Italian city-states, which due to a lack of unification are very vulnerable to other unified nation-states such as France.

"Machiavellianism" is a widely used negative term to characterize unscrupulous politicians of the sort Machiavelli described in The Prince.

The book itself gains enormous notoriety and wide readership because most readers assume the author is teaching and endorsing evil and immoral behavior.

Because of this, the term "Machiavellian" is often associated with deceit, deviousness, ambition, realpolitik and brutality, although Machiavelli likely only used it as stylistic device to gain the reader's attention for his close analysis of the actual techniques used by rulers.

Some commentators, such as Baruch Spinoza, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Denis Diderot, have in effect argued that Machiavelli was actually a Republican and wanted to show, in this work, the cruelty of the tyrants, to push the people not to trust them.