Prince Of Machiavelli Essay, Research Paper

?All the states, all the dominions, under whose authority men have lived in

the past and live now have been and are either republics or principalities.?

In Machiavelli?s, The Prince, timeless keys to a successful principality are

examined. The keys are understanding human nature, respecting that nature, and

reaffirming that successful leadership can exist in the same fashion yesterday,

today, and tomorrow. Machiavelli?s perspective of human nature is founded on

the principle that people in general don?t want their culture changed by an

outside influence. Machiavelli demonstrates in the book that the nature of

people is to defend who they are. When ?the prince? attempts to change their

culture in any way the subjects will do any number of things to crush this

attempt or even change the leadership. If a prince uses force to try to change

people this will lead to hostility, because as Machiavellis says, ?they

remain, defeated, in their own homes.? This underlying fact will lead to a

rebellion of some sort. One way this rebellion can happen is when a powerful

foreigner invades the principality. The now ?defeated? people will join this

powerful foreigner, in hopes that their culture will now be respected, to

dethrone the prince. When the prince tries to use force to control the people it

only creates enemies. Machiavelli explains this aspect of human nature when he

writes, ?he harms the whole state by billeting his army in different parts of

the country, everyone suffers from this annoyance, and everybody is turned into

an enemy.? On the contrast if a prince allows the people to keep their customs

Machiavelli states that the people will remain content when he writes, ?For

the rest, so long as their old ways of life are undisturbed and there is no

divergence in customs, men live quietly.? Another natural tendency of people

comes with freedom. Once they have had a taste of freedom, they virtually cannot

live without it. This feeling of control over one?s life is a quality that

once molded is nearly impossible to reshape. Machiavelli asserts this idea when

he writes, ?a city used to freedom can be more easily ruled through its own

citizens…than in any other way.? The same tendency lies in the control that

the prince gains over the people in the principality. Once the prince has

control he finds that giving up control to be extremely difficult. That is why

ideally a prince would posses a number of qualities to find success as a leader.

Only through an understanding of the nature of his subjects, having an ability

to control his subjects, and possessing the means to defend his subjects can

?the prince? truly find the universal key to open the door to upholding the

ideals of practical leadership. When a prince understands the nature of the

people it is easier for him to enter the land. Machiavelli writes of the Romans

and how they developed their empire, ?the Aetolians once brought the Romans

into Greece; and in every other country they invaded, the Romans were brought in

by the inhabitants.? Because the Romans understood human nature their movement

into power was unchallenged. Once in power it is essential for the prince to be

able to control the people. ?I say that a prince must want to have a

reputation for compassion rather than cruelty: none the less, he must be careful

that he does not make bad use of compassion.? When Machiavelli wrote this he

was outlining the key to controlling the people. The prince needs to be able to

keep the people united, and loyal to him and at the same time ensure respect for

the laws by instilling a fear for punishment. One of Machiavelli?s most used

examples of a successful prince is Cesare Borgia. It is essential to be feared

not hated and in the case of Borgia his minister Remirro de Orco punished law

breakers in a cruel fashion that led to people hating Borgia. To create a

feeling of fear for punishment rather than hatred for the prince Borgia decided

to punish his minister for all to see. ?One morning, Remirro?s body was

found cut in two pieces on the piazza at Cesena, with a block of wood and a

bloody knife beside it. The brutality of this specticle kept the people of the

Romagna at once appeased.? Finally, once control has been established the

prince is now obligated to defend the people. This only comes through a strong

military. Machiavelli believes that the military is essential to help create

friends for the prince, form trust from the people, and avoid attempts from

foreign lands to invade his principality or citizens to overthrow his

government. Machiavelli writes that, ?a prince should assume personal command

and captain his troops himself. Experience is shown that only princes…achieve

solid success.? Though these keys were expressed by Machiavelli over 450 years

ago they are most definitly applicable today, and in the future. In examining

the 20th century two leaders have seemingly emulated the ideas of Machiavelli,

Adolf Hitler and Mao Tse-Tsung. Hitler understood the nature of the German

people, which allowed him to eventually rise to power, by one vote. By

exploiding the vulnerability of his comrads in the post-World War 1 era he

appealed to their needs. Once in power he used the minority as an example that

he should be feared which at the same time allowed him to gain the trust of the

majority. Hitler stands alone in history as being an individual that was able to

justify horrid acts in the minds of his people. The same people that formed an

army and nearly succeeded in conquering the European continent. Hitler possessed

the three keys of understanding, controlling, and defending, and as hard as it

is to say he was a successful leader in the 20th century. A leader who didn?t

use intimidation to gain power rather manipulation to develop control and

support was Mao the first communist dictator of China. Through his ?little red

book? Mao used positive reenforcement to oil the gears of one of the worlds

strongest super powers. Mao didn?t try to use force and change the culture in

China rather he persuaded the people into having great national pride. This

pride enabled Mao to control the people also build a strong military and defend

his land. In China Mao did and still today, decades after his death, have a hand

in every aspect of Chinese life. Both of these leaders project how timeless

Machiavelli?s ideas truly are. The first rung of the ladder to a successful

principality is the understanding of human nature. A nature that values

consistency over forced change and an atmosphere of control over one?s self

instead of someone blatently controlling another. Through this understanding of

human nature can a prince hold his power. Once he holds this power the best way

to keep it is by providing defense for the people whom he has power over. These

ideas were present in the infamous reigns of Hitler and Mao. Machiavelli is

correct there are either principalities or republics, and I have come to the

conclusion I prefer the latter.