Niccolo Machiavelli: The Father of Modern Politics

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The American Senate Majority leader just cast the deciding vote to not support the Women’s Fair Pay Act, knowing his district’s voters are over 55% women. But, his vote ensured his party would keep the majority until 2016. The Minority leader in the Senate walks over to him after the session and says, “Good play, and it was very Machiavellian of you”.

Niccolo Machiavelli was a philosopher, statesman and the leading political theorist in the late 1400s early 1500s. He is often referred to as the “father of modern political theory” (Nederman, 2009). His book The Prince (2011) had such an influence its’ theories are still in practice today. This paper will prove Machiavelli is not a Visionary leader nor is he ethical through his theory as written in his book the Prince, and its relevance through personal experience. Let’s begin by discussing Machiavelli’s visionary leadership.

It is easy to mistake Machiavelli as a visionary leader due to the fact he was so influential but the real truth is he is not. First, it is important to know what a visionary leader is. “Visionary leaders not only have a clear idea of what is possible, they are involved in bringing it about” (Kahan, 2013, para. 5). Visionary leaders foster inclusive environments and are team builders as well as strategic thinkers (LM03, 2012). Machiavelli’s theories were effective but he was never involved in executing what he wrote. He never saw any plan through. When it came to fostering inclusive environments Machiavelli (2011) stated:

It is much safer to be feared than loved because... love is preserved by the link of obligation which, owing to the baseness of men, is broken at every opportunity for their advantage; but fear preserves you by a dread of pun...

... middle of paper ...

...you’re watching C-Span and watching our government debate will you be able to point out what party is only looking out for their own interest and acting Machiavellian?

References

Golem, D. (2006). Social intelligence: The new science of human relationships. Random House.

Kahan, Seth (2013). Leadership: Visionary leadership. Retrieved from http://www.visionaryleadership.com/free-resources/leadership-visionary- leadership.php

LM01, Ethical Leadership. (2012). Maxwell Gunter AFB. Thomas N. Barnes Center for Enlisted Education (AETC)

LM03, Diversity. (2012). Maxwell Gunter AFB. Thomas N. Barnes Center for Enlisted Education (AETC)

Machiavelli, N. (2011). The Prince [Apple E-book version]. Retrieved from Apple.com

Nederman, C. (2009). Niccolo Machiavelli. Stanfrod Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved from http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/machiavelli/

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