I believe that Machiavelli advice to the prince is useful to the modern politician and it can be use in current events and by leaders. We could see his ideas used daily all over the world and one of them is having a strong army. Different politicians and president follow similar ideas that Machiavelli talked about such as taking responsibilities of all your duties that are assigned to you, and not just live virtuously. He also mentioned important qualities that a strong leader should possess and should not possess. For example, a strong leader should not develop generosity and should also avoid promising ideas that are impossible to achieve. He also needs to avoid being hated by the people because it is going to make him weak, and he must not show compassion either. One of the most important ideas that Machiavelli talks about its having a strong army, I believe that this applies to our country because United States has been known for having one of the strongest armies in the world. I think that this is because we have followed one of Machiavelli ideas which …show more content…
is that a leader “who does not understand military matters, besides the other misfortune already noted cannot be esteemed by his own soldiers, nor can he trust them” (Machiavelli 222). In other words in other to have a good army we need to have an experience leader that can be trusted, and understand the soldiers because he had been in the position before. Another example is following Machiavelli analogy, when he makes us imagine two soldiers one soldier armed and the other one unarmed. Usually the armed soldier would feel more protected and save while the other one would feel unsecured. It would be more likely that the soldier that is unarmed would take orders from the armed soldier. A leader who is not mentally prepare or does not study the act of war and history is like the unarmed soldier because he is unprepared. Another idea of Machiavelli is that a leader such as a president should not concern about living virtuously, but rather with acting right to achieve the most practical benefit of the country. Through the years philosophers have created ideas of how a man should live rather than how a man actually live. This can apply not only to the president but to all people. One example we have been thought that through our life we need to have the latest technology such as the IPhone six or we need to have the newest and most expensive car in the market but we are wrong, we need to fulfill our responsibilities and take care of our family first and other important duties. Same thing with the president he needs to be responsibility and make the best decisions for our country. In this country liberality and generosity is a quality that it is important to have, but if a strong leader develops this generosity he would lose his respect.
One example is if the politicians has unnecessary high taxation will cause the people to hate their government. By doing this you break the rules by not protecting nor helping the people. This main idea Machiavelli encourages politicians to maintain the idea of generosity while avoiding liberality. We have seen several cases like this in our history when the government races taxes because politicians try to be generous to the citizens by giving them free stuff while they are running their campaign, but what we don't know is that the wealthy people are helping them win as long as they returned the favor by changing some laws. Some of this laws that wealthy people would like to change include lowering the taxes for them while lower income families pay
more. A strong politician should not show compassion unwisely, because if he shows too much compassion he starts creating an atmosphere of disorder. In other words you need to balance of being feared and loved. Cesare Borgia was a great leader and a great example of how being feared and cruel lead to restoring the peace and obedience in Romagna. Most of the time being feared is better because people will risk their lives because they feared punishment. If you have the bond of love it would be different and dangerous because breaking the bond of love and turning your back against your leader is easier than facing the consequences and punishment. But a leader should avoid hatred he should always have convincing reasons. Also strong leader like the president should not be scared of making hazardous decision we could see this in “Nevertheless, a prince must be cautious in believing and in acting, nor should he be afraid of his own shadow; and he should be proceed in such manner”(Machiavelli 227). A big part of being a good politician is taking risk and come up with subject that no one has ever touched before. Many leaders in the world have to be loved and feared at the same time in order to be a good leader, but this stage is really difficult to obtain because these qualities are the opposite of each other Machiavelli beliefs are that a strong leader who is honor and followed by the people should never make promises that he cannot keep. We have seen this in our history how strong leaders become more successful when they are able to trick others. One of the most important qualities is know when There's usually two types doing this one of them is by law and the other one by force. “A wise ruler, therefore, cannot and should not keep his word when such an observation of faith would be to his disadvantage and when the reason which made him promise are moved” (230). Sometimes politicians cannot keep their promises because it depends in their situation. For example, if you were running for elections in order to get votes you need to have people that are willing to vote for you but how do you get the people? Well is simple you need to promise them things that they would like even though you know that it is impossible to do. Another example is when people wanted the reduction of the Veterans benefits administration claim backlog, Obama promise that he would do it but at the end of the day he did not keep his promise. At the same time a leader should avoid being despite or hated at all cost. There are two ways in how to avoid being hated the first one is internal insurrection which is making sure that your own people do not hate you. For example, how some people did not trust and hated Obama after he broke his promise, but he made it up to them by keeping his other promise like granting Americans unrestricted rights to visit family and sent money to Cuba and encourage videotaping of interrogations in capital cases? Another example of internal insurrection can be seen in the people. In the United States most of the Americans are Happy with their President because he has kept most of his promises and had done his job. If we look at Mexico, most of the people over there hate the president Enrique Pena Nieto because of the big conflict that happen on September. Students try to speak up in a government conference, but the same people of the government did not let them speak up and hired a criminal gang to capture and killed them. The 43 students were put into difference buses that the government controlled. The buses left the city and after that they have not find the buddies of the students that were trying to have a voice in their country. This created a great hatred thors the government and the president. The second part is external threat from different countries. We all know that some members in the world are going to hate us anyway, but it is important to avoid the hatred from the most powerful parties in the world. Overall I think that most of Machiavelli's ideas and advice can be effective in our world and society, most of them do depend on certain circumstances and other do not. For example having a strong army is useful and it does not depend on specific conditions, because during a war or without it. It is important to have a strong leader and military, so that the enemy would have the idea that your country is powerful. For instance the United States has one of the most powerful militaries in the world. By having this it make other countries afraid to challenge us, and if they do challenge them will be able to defeat them. Other ideas that Machiavelli had can be used by all people for instance. People in general should not worry about living virtuously and should worry about taking care of their family members and nature. The rest of his ideas are mostly advice of how leaders and politicians should act upon. Some of the characteristics that a good leader should be careful is by having too much generosity and compassion because it could lead to disaster. Another important ideas that they must followed is that they need to avoid making promises to people and being hated by their own people or by other countries because this could also end up in a disaster and they could lose all the support from the people. Lastly, I think that Machiavelli's ideas are important qualities that a leader or politician should have because they are useful in our society.
Niccolo Machiavelli believes in a strong government. The leader should be strong and feared. I believe he gets this idea from the fear of God; no one is supposed to question God because he is so feared, and in the same sense, no one should question a strong leader. Machiavelli realizes that the leader should be feared, but not hated. A hated leader will probably be killed in a rebellion. One also can not be loved. Any compassion towards your citizens will make them believe you are weak, and they will rebel. He thinks a very strong military is necessary at all times, and that powerful arms should be available and in hand. This idea is similar to that of right wing America and our friends, the National Rifle Association, who believe assault rifles are America’s pastime. The nation should always be prepared for war, and should always be searching for new lands to conquer. T...
Machiavelli believes that a government should be very structured, controlled, and powerful. He makes it known that the only priorities of a prince are war, the institutions, and discipline. His writings describes how it is more important for a prince to be practical than moral. This is shown where he writes, "in order to maintain the state he is often obliged to act against his promise, against charity, against humanity, and against religion" (47). In addition, Machiavelli argues that a prince may have to be cunning and deceitful in order to maintain political power. He takes the stance that it is better for the prince to be feared than loved. His view of how a government should run and his unethical conduct are both early signs of dictatorship.
Machiavelli strongly believes that a prince should be involved in the military and understand all military matters. A prince must always be concentrated on war. Whether his country is at war or not, he must always be prepared. He must continuously be training, mentally and physically, and know the terrain around him. Machiavelli believes that a prince who does not attain these military related qualities will fail as a leader. In addition, during times of war, a successful prince should always question all outcomes of possible battles and prepare himself for the future by studying past wars. Studying the
As he begins to conclude, Machiavelli states that the prince: “should think about avoiding those things which make him hated and despised.” (Mach 48) Although these lack any withstanding moral values, they are effective in the sense that they better serve their purpose. Machiavelli was seeking to display a way to hold political power by any means possible not a utopian state. This may mean malicious acts, imprisonment, and torture, or it may mean the utilization of power to achieve a common good. Machiavelli doesn’t elaborate on this. He concentrates on a realistic approach towards government, as he remains concerned with the establishment and protection of power.
Although Machiavelli gives numerous points on what it takes to excel as a prince, he also shows some raw examples of how he feels a prince should act in order to achieve maximum supremacy. First, when he says, "ought to hold of little account a reputation for being mean, for it is one of those vices which will enable him to govern" proves Machiavelli feels mighty adamant about his view that being mean will help a prince achieve success (332). It is absurd to imagine the meanest prince as the most successful. Also, when Machiavelli states, "our experience has been that those princes who have done great things have held good faith of little account, and have known how to circumvent the intellect of men by craft" revealing his attitude to manipulate people into fearing and respecting the prince (335). Also, Machiavelli shows that for a prince to be successful, he must not think about good faith.
The most astounding aspect of The Prince is Machiavelli’s view that princes may indeed, be cruel and dishonest if their ultimate aim is for the good of the state. It is not only acceptable but necessary to lie, to use torture, and to walk over other states and cities. Machiavellianism is defined as “A political doctrine of Machiavelli, which denies the relevance of morality in political affairs and holds that craft and deceit are justified in pursuing and maintaining political power (Def.)” This implies that in the conquest for power, the ends justify the means. This is the basis of Machiavellianism. The priority for the power holder is to keep the security of the state regardless of the morality of the means. He accepts that these things are in and of themselves morally wrong, but he points out that the consequences of failure, the ruin of states and the destruction of cities, can be far worse. Machiavelli strongly emphasizes that princes should not hesitate to use immoral methods to achieve power, if power is necessary for security and survival.
Machiavelli’s ultimate goal is to inform the Prince on how to keep his principality and assure his spot. The Prince needs to maintain power and can do anything to get and keep it, as long as it doesn’t affect his subjects negatively. Some methods can be steal land, make empty promises, and cheat people in order to stay on top. Machiavelli says “The Principle foundations that all States have, as well new, as old, or mixt are good laws, and good armes; and because there cannot be good laws where there are good armes; and where there are good armes, there must be good laws.” (Letter 12) Without good armies there cannot be good laws, but if a state has a strong army, that shows the state has good laws that are enforced.It is crucial to lay down a solid foundation, because after he has spent so long clawing his way to the top, he wouldn’t want all of it come crashing down. This means eliminating rivals and winning followers. Machiavelli says “They who by fortune only becomes Princes of private men, with small pains to attain is, but have much ado to maintain themselves in it; and find no difficulty at all in the way, because they are carried thither with...
For all of Machiavelli’s ruthlessness and espousal of deceit, he knew the value of authenticity and relying on his administration. A true leader cannot achieve greatness alone. Machiavelli says that the prince is the state, and the state is the prince. This means that whatever vision and principles the leader holds in the highest regard, they must be known to the state so that they can be realized. He believed that no matter how a prince was elected, his success would depend largely on his ministers. Collaboration between a prince and ministers would create an atmosphere of harmony and camaraderie, highly reducing the chances of rebellion. Without the support and cooperation of the people, military action is not possible, expansion is not possible and most importantly, governance is not possible. If a leader does not satisfy the needs of the people, they have the power to overthrow him through strength in numbers. Thus, a leader depends just as much on the people as they do on him. A leader must be able to convince the people to buy into his visio...
Machiavelli’s advice to princes directly correlated to his view on human nature. He believed that every common man was born evil and selfish. That did not stop him, however, from saying that humans many show instances when they exhibit generosity and wholeheartedness. He does tell princes, however, not to count on the few occurrences that may happen, and he says, “It is necessary to be a prince to know thoroughly the nature of the people, and one of the populace to know the nature of princes”. He is saying is that it is imperative that a prince knows the natural human nature, that each and every human will become more self-interested than interested in the good of the state. If he is ignorant to that fact, his kingdom/area of rule will deteriorate simply because he believes in the citizens that occupy it. He does believe, however, that with the right training, a human being can be molded (with the help of the state, of course) and he says, “Nature creates few men brave, industry and training makes many.” Although he believes that people cannot change themselves for the good, he does think that the state and military can shape humans for the better, but there will always be
Through his many years of experience with Italian politics Machiavelli wrote “The Prince”; a how-to guide for new rulers. We are given descriptions of what a leader should do to effectively lead his country. A leader should be the only authority determining every aspect of the state and put in effect a policy to serve his best interests. These interests are gaining, maintaining, and expanding his political power. Machiavelli’s idea is that a ruler should use a variety of strategies (virtues) to secure his power. Machiavelli lists five virtues that a ruler should appear to have; being compassionate, trustworthy, generous, honest and religious. A ruler should possess all the qualities considered good by other people.
In The Prince, Machiavelli separates ethics from politics. His approach to politics, as outlined in The Prince, is strictly practical. Machiavelli is less concerned with what is right and just, and instead with what will lead to the fortification of the government and the sustainment of power. Machiavelli believed that a ruler should use any means necessary to obtain and sustain power. He says, “…people judge by outcome. So if a ruler wins wars and holds onto power, the means he has employed will always be judged honorable, and everyone will praise them” (Machiavelli, 55). According to Machiavelli, the ends of an action justify the means (Machiavelli, 55). His motivation for these views in The Prince was the reunification of the Italian city-states (Machiavelli, 78-79). Machiavelli wanted Italy to return to its glory of the Roman Empire (Machiavelli 78-79). Some of the beliefs of Machiavelli could be perceived as evil and cruel, but he found them necessary. Machiavelli was not concerned with making people happy. His purpose was outcome and success, and in his opinion, the only way to be successful was to be realistic. These views of Machiavelli could classify him as one of the earliest modern
To be “Machiavellian” is typically understood to mean clever or dishonest; generally unlikable traits in a general member of society. When asked to evaluate the current state of affairs in America today and look for the conceptions of liberty and corruption, the most accurate answer to this evaluation is through history. Looking at America and taking the previously studied writings of Machiavelli, is there any hope for the liberty America prides itself on or at least is there any way to stave off corruption? If we are to look through our American society through Machiavelli’s perspective, our perspective will be a lot more well-grounded if we first take a look at those who influenced Machiavelli before he in turn influenced our understanding as well. Starting off politics thousands of years before our time that we still study and attempt to imitate today are the Romans.
Written almost 500 years ago, Niccolo Machiavelli’s “The Prince” brings forward a new definition of virtue. Machiavelli’s definition argued against the concept brought forward by the Catholic Church. Machiavelli did not impose any thoughts of his own, rather he wrote from his experience and whatever philosophy that lead to actions which essentially produced effective outcomes in the political scene of Italy and in other countries. While Machiavelli is still criticized for his notions, the truth is that, consciously or subconsciously we are all thinking for our own benefit and going at length to achieve it. On matters of power where there is much to gain and a lot more to lose, the concept of Machiavelli’s virtue of “doing what needs to be done” applies rigorously to our modern politics and thus “The Prince” still serves as a suitable political treatise in the 21st century.
Machiavelli’s The Prince was written more than 500 years ago and it is “one of the most influential and controversial books published in Western literature.” (Article A) It was about Machiavelli’s political philosophies and the basic principles of what he believes a politician or “prince” should be. The three main ideas of the Prince were “Liberality and Stinginess”, “Cruelty and Mercy: Is It Better to Be Loved Than Feared, or the Reverse?”, and “How a Prince Should Keep Their Promises” and for the most part many of his concepts should or are already instilled in our government.
During the time 1469, a child by the name of Niccolo Di Bernardo Del Machiavelli was born .Some may know him as an Italian philosopher, humanist, or a evil minded fellow associated with the corruptness of totalitarian government. In Machiavelli’s home state Florence, he introduces the modern political theory. Hoping to gain influence with the ruling Medici family Niccolo wrote a pamphlet call The Prince (Prezzolini).