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Leading by fear and by love: Niccolò Machiavelli and the enlightened despotism of the Marquis of Pombal in the eighteenth century Portugal

Abstract This study adopts a historical perspective analysis to identify the thought on leadership in the eighteenth-century Portugal. The paper empirically analyses a letter sent from the Portuguese eighteenth-century Minister Marquis of Pombal to the Governor of Maranhão (currently Brazil), about ‘the art of good leadership’. A grounded theory analysis to the letter content found evidence that the enlightened despotism of the Marquis of Pombal can be interpreted as a later echo of the thought of Niccolò Machiavelli. The paper ends by presenting a typology of leadership for paradoxical times and discussing the influence of Machiavelli’s thought in the eighteenth-century debate on religion and enlightenment, as well as the critical role his ideas might play in today’s VUCA world.