How (Not) to Rule the World: Power, Politics, and Machiavelli’s Renaissance
Join us for a two-and-a-half-day residential program introducing you to Niccolò Machiavelli’s The Prince. If you enjoy reading, writing, or thinking about big ideas, this is the Winter School for you.
Event sessions
No book in the history of Western political thought has attracted as much intrigue and controversy as Niccolò Machiavelli’s The Prince. Written in 1513 while exiled in the hills outside Florence and against a background of extraordinary artistic, architectural, and intellectual creativity, Machiavelli offered a clear-eyed examination of politics and the ‘art of ruling’. Conceived as an advice book for rulers, The Prince discarded conventional moral virtues for specifically political ones. Machiavelli’s ruler must adapt to the times, must know when to behave like a fox and when like a lion, and learn how not to be good.
What's involved
The Western Civilisation Winter School is a two-and-a-half-day residential program that will situate Machiavelli’s explosive little book in the context of Renaissance culture and explore questions about the nature and ends of power, the place of morality in politics, and the characteristics of political virtue. It will also provide opportunities to discuss the influences on Machiavelli’s writing and how The Prince has influenced modern political discourse and debates.
Camp activities include:
- an evening at the Queensland Parliament
- a trip to the Queensland Art Gallery and Queensland State Library
- a Machiavelli-inspired film night.
Cost
The Winter School is free. Accommodation and full-board during the Winter School are provided. Travel subsidies for students with financial disadvantages or who are travelling from over 400 km away from Brisbane are available.
Eligibility
The Winter School is open to all Year 11 and Year 12 high school students.
Applications
Expression of Interest submissions are due 11:59pm Sunday 28 April 2024. No one will be available to help with your submission after 5pm Friday 26 April 2024.
Contact
If you have any questions about the Winter School or about submitting your Expression of Interest, please email westernciv@uq.edu.au.