Niccolò Machiavelli

Florentine diplomat and the founder of modern political science. Written while in exile after the Medici's return, The Prince (1513) advised rulers to be both lion and fox — willing to use force and deception as the situation demands. He observed the Borgias and Sforzas at first hand, and his cold-eyed analysis of power divorced politics from Christian morality in a way that has disturbed readers ever since.

• Roles: Political Theorist, Diplomat, Historian, Writer