It’s easy to miss in Machiavelli’s The Prince and Discourses on Livy, but he has hopeful things to say about to (use Constant’s term) old-style federations, or what Machiavelli is inclined to call ‘a league of republics.’ The classical exemplars of these, the Aetolians and Achaeans are mentioned in passing in
Liberal democracies are the only form of government that have never warred on one another. Spinoza and Machiavelli are of little to no value in understanding what may be the most important unnoticed development in human history because they did not exist during their time. A federated republic seems similar to viewing the US when it included slave states and a nasty war grew out of that. See "Understanding the Democratic Peace: Spontaneous Order, Organization, and the Foundations of War and Peace." Cosmos and Taxis. 12:11+12, 89-106. https://cosmosandtaxis.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/diZerega_CT_Vol12_Iss_11_12.pdf
Liberal democracies are the only form of government that have never warred on one another. Spinoza and Machiavelli are of little to no value in understanding what may be the most important unnoticed development in human history because they did not exist during their time. A federated republic seems similar to viewing the US when it included slave states and a nasty war grew out of that. See "Understanding the Democratic Peace: Spontaneous Order, Organization, and the Foundations of War and Peace." Cosmos and Taxis. 12:11+12, 89-106. https://cosmosandtaxis.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/diZerega_CT_Vol12_Iss_11_12.pdf