About 50 Niccolo Machiavelli

Niccolo Machiavelli’s “The Prince” was written in a time of great power struggle and warfare amongst the various city-states of Italy and their powerful nation-state allies. Machiavelli was a foreign diplomat who watched these events take place and was himself involved in various political/military causes. The book itself was written as a gift to the Medici family, who had forced him into voluntarily exile. Today, the reason that Machiavelli continues to be studied is that he is one of the best writers to intellectually and methodically articulate the theory behind power governance. The power concept, later associated with the term “realpolitik,” leads minds to inquire about abstract notions such as justice, fairness, and the list goes on. Though written as a manual for dictators, Machiavelli’s “The Prince” is a valuable read for any democratic society because it contains a cynical view of mankind that displays the power of the primitive and undemocratic side of humanity. The theory and definition of Machiavelli’s realpolitik can be summarized by this passage from “The Prince”: “A great many men have imagined states and princedoms such as nobody ever saw or knew in the real world, for there’s such a difference between the way we really live and the way we ought to live that the man who neglects the real to study the ideal will learn how to accomplish his ruin, not his salvation.” Machiavelli’s notions of practicality over ethics pose quite a problem to modern democratic society, which has an interest in maintaining the honesty of leaders and institutions. “The Prince” challenges the wisdom of popular demand for accountability, arguing that the mere illusion of ethical conduct is sufficient. It presents a frank and troubling question: do we really want to know everything our leaders do behind closed doors? Machiavelli and the Concept of Realpolitik

By: Jacob Mailander