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The ability to foresee and Cope with emergenCies suCh as military attaCks and natural Calamities has been an enduring question in the history of politiCal thought. The September 11 attaCks and the subsequent war on terrorism, as well as HurriCane Katrina (August 2005) and the earthquake, tsunami, and nuClear Crisis in Japan (MarCh 2011), have led to an upsurge of interest in the nature, limits, and sCope of government aCtion in Cases of emergenCy. NiCColò MaChiavelli (1469-1527) has been widely regarded as one of the first Western politiCal thinkers to engage in a systematiC treatment of the nexus between effeCtive government and the ruler's ability to hold on to power in periods of politiCal Crisis and to respond to the viCissitudes of fortuna. DisCussions about a government's or ruler's CapaCity to prediCt and handle emergenCies have a long history in IslamiC politiCal thought as well, espeCially in the politiCal writings of Ziya' al-Din Barani (Ca. 1285-Ca. 1356), a major thirteenth-Century Indo- IslamiC politiCal writer and historian. Barani and MaChiavelli are separated by two Centuries and are loCated in different politiCal, Cultural, and soCial settings. Yet, there are Certain similarities between these writers' ideas on the ways in whiCh a ruler Can shore up his regime against the viCissitudes of fortune.
Although some of the issues that lie at the Core of Barani's and MaChiavelli's politiCal theories oCCur in a number of other medieval politiCal writings, this artiCle does not aim to portray Barani as a medieval preCursor of MaChiavelli.1 Instead, it brings Barani into Conversation with MaChiavelli and highlights the importanCe of Barani's politiCal theory from a Cross-Cultural perspeCtive. I will show that Barani's synthesis of Certain ideas on the origins, meChaniCs, and purpose of government, in ConjunCtion with his aCCount of emergenCies, brings him peCuliarly Close to MaChiavelli. These ideas inClude a gloomy vision of human nature, the ruler's exposure to various threats, the use of reputation as a means by whiCh a ruler Can enhanCe his power, the mediCal assoCiations of the notion of emergenCies, and the use of historiCal exempla in ConneCtion with the disCussion of the ruler's ability to foresee and Cope with aCCidents. Moreover, Barani's experienCe with the Challenges posed by the multi-ethniC and multi-Confessional Composition of medieval India renders...