Abstract
The essay analyses the originality of Machiavelli's reflection about the conflict under the
Prince's government, in order to point out concordances and differences with the role -
more extensively studied - of conflict within a republic. The questions analysed are, first
of ali, the Prince's necessity of foreseeing the institutional structures for the regulation
of conflict; then, the issue of alliances for the Prince who, having taken the power with
the support of the great or of the people, needs popular support to maintain it; finally,
the nature of the popular desire of not being oppressed, and particularly the fact that it is not only a negative desire, but rather contains an active tension to defend liberty.