Part of the Casswiki article series History
Niccolò Machiavelli, 1469-1527, is considered one of the founders of modern political science.
He was a diplomat and civil servant in Florence, traveled around Europe but his political accomplishments were not specially noteworthy. He spent a large part of his time on his small property near Florence and dedicated his time to writing. He was never in a position of great personal power or wealth. He is best known for his classic, The Prince, in which he advises a would be unifier of Italy on statecraft.
The main precepts of The Prince are as follows. The Prince shall:
Exploit religion and cultivate hypocrisy - Go to church and make sure he is seen there. Have people focus on “eternal rewards” so as to make them forget they are exploited. Foment dissent among opposition. Have others do the dirty work while self appearing virtuous and magnanimous. Not trust mercenaries. Use propaganda and belief rather than force for controlling the masses. Holding a gun to everybody’s head is inefficient. The Prince mentions numerous examples, both from the times of Renaissance and those of Classic Rome and Greece for application of these principles.
It is probable that Machiavelli was more a theoretician and documentation of his day’s practices than an actual inventor of all these principles of “realpolitik”.
Machiavelli remains very timely today and can be read by anybody seeking to understand today’s political scene. In common usage, the adjective Machiavellian has come to denote ruthless, treacherous, opportunistic, unprincipled and cunning. Some of this reputation may well be a case of blaming the messenger for telling bad news about the power structure of his age, as indeed these principles were broadly applied and in use before and after Machiavelli.
While it is true that Machiavelli recommends all these practices and more, it is more comfortable to paint him the devil while refusing to see that these very principles and more are in pervasive use around one in one’s own time and culture.