Abstract

The essay examines two neglected works on international politics by Donato Giannotti (1492-1573) and Bartolomeo Cavalcanti (1503-1562), both Florentine, republican, close to Machiavelli, interested in literature and politics. The writings under consideration deal with Charles V’s policies regarding Italy and the European states and call for the creation of an anti-hegemonic coalition against him. Although both works are policy-oriented, they reveal a conceptual framework based on power and security whose implications are worth considering. Giannotti and Cavalcanti offer an interpretation of international relations that cannot be traced back simply to the individual preferences of the main actors – including Charles himself – but that refers to the broader context in which the various players interact – a context structured primarily around the distribution of power, the incentives and disincentives that this entails, and strategic interdependence: one’s move, which is rationally predictable, must take into account the other’s likely move, equally predictable in rational terms. Those interactions, in turn, can lead to outcomes that do not necessarily reflect the actors’ initial intentions. While individual preferences cannot be ignored, most variables in play are impersonal and can be seen as a preliminary, highly rationalistic, conceptualization of power politics on a European scale