MACHIAVELLI

Age 1500 - Father of Political Realism, Child of renaissance (rebirth of reason), Father of European secularism

Place Italy, Critic - Sabine

Concern  Greatest Patriot
 Nation states were being formed — except for italy — due to interference of Corrupt Church
 Vulnerable to external attacks
 extremely critical of role of religion in politics
o Church cardinals acting as obstacles to unification of Italy -
o Corrupt church => corrupt italian society
 Advocated for separation of religion and politics - Father of European Secularism
 Machiavelli’s Prince == any enterprising person to come to power and make Italy a strong
nation state

School of  Political realism - looking at things as they are, rather than how they ought to be.
Thought  Realist = Politics is not ethics = Struggle for Power
 Materialist
 Psychology and History to guide politics

Influences  Politics of that time

Books  The Prince

Humanism

The Prince
1. Manual of statecraft
2. Advice to political entrepreneur
3. Inspired by Cesare Borgia
4. Addressed to ‘Lorenzo the magnificent’

1st Advice- Nature of Profession

 Intro - Same for all advices
o Prince is considered as the best book in the field of statecraft. It contains advices for any enterprising
 person who wants to be in power and remain in power
 Machiavelli suggests — Prince should understand the nature of profession == As it is, rather than as it
should be
 Realist -
o Prince should not be a Philosopher
o He should be wise in the real world than in the world of ideas
 If Prince will sacrifice what is for what it should be — Harm himself and his state
 How we live is far removed from how we ought to live.
 Politics ==> Not goodness ==> Not inspiring ==> Not ethics
 Should be able to see the dark side of the picture ==> How to be bad ==> May need to take morally wrong
decisions
 Criticism
o Sabine -
 Narrowly dated and narrowly placed with his pessimistic views wrt politics because he belonged to
Italy of that time.
 Had he belonged to some other time and space he may not have been so pessimistic.
o Our view -
 Though ideas heavily influenced by the circumstances prevailing in Italy == but thoughts have
universal relevance.
 Irony that everyone follows but no one acknowledges as a Machiavellian

2nd Advice- Human Nature

 Intro -
 Acc to M, Prince - knowledge of psychology backed by History — which shows that human nature has not
changed
 Attributes
o Ungrateful :
 Forget the favours
 Support not to be taken for granted
 Favour should be done gradually
 “It is better to feared than to be loved”
o Deceitful : Can betray the prince when interest demands
o Coward : Fearful of losing all the things that give him happiness— convince ppl that their interest are
secured only when he is in power
o Fickle-minded : Man can easily change his sides.
o Avaricious : Greedy, possessive and materialst — allow men to maximise his material gain
 It is better to execute than confiscate —>Man will forget the death of his father, but not the loss of his
 patrimony
 Not to touch other’s women= Men are possessive of their woman

 2 fundamental qualities : Selfish and Materialist which is a natural fact

 Psychology of bourgeoise class
 Critical Eval
o Sabine
o Our view -
 M’s view is deductive.
 Not a balanced view
 Not scientific
 Selfish but has sympathy for others too.
 These views — heavily influenced by Italy. Affirms from history
 Historicism
 M describes human nature as self centred, materialistic and possessive, psychology of
emerging bourgeoise class

3rd Advice- Feared

 “It is better to be feared than to be loved”
 Intro -
 M says, - Statecraft is mgt of power. Art of Using force
 2 types
o Hard power : Power of coercion
o Soft power : Power of attraction
 Prince must know proper use of these types of powers.
 Maintain law and order and discipline people
 He recommends the policy of love - gradually  - not reliable as man is ungrateful and fickle minded
 Force is more reliable — Not to be used first — Used through proxies and subsidiaries — Completely
in single go — never let a man live for revenge
 Revenge very powerful feeling — at the cost of self-interest and personal life
 Machiavelli is quite correct, talk about smart power, Gandhi allowed in 1942.

4th Advice- Qualities
 Prince should be a cold blooded man, control over temper, and act with reason.
 Fox - Reason - Clever to understand the conspiracies and traps
 Lion - Courage - to defend himself from the wolves
 Times of Plato and Aristotle - R&C for ruling class
  M — more explicit
 Kautilya - ancient India - similar thoughts - interstate relations - jungle - strength of lion prevails
 Every state requires institutions of intelligence and military.

Ethics, religion and Politics

 In Politics ends justify the means. It the ends are good, it means that the mean employed were also good
 M - greatest contribution - about ends and means
 He says — Political actions are autonomous from Religion and Ethics.
 Sometimes actions needed - Might put prince in religious and ethical dilemma - right and timely action is
required
 Nothing is superior to National interest
 Concept of “Dual Morality “
o Morality of prince diff from that of an ordinary man
o Ordinary man - sacrifice himself for his principles — but a prince cannot sacrifice national interest for his
principles
o Pol actions ==> evaluated by outcomes and not by ethics or religion ==> National interest paramount
o All actions in Nat int — right ,
o If nat interest sacrificed in the name of Ethics then the prince cannot be saved
 Greatest Patriot — Nothing superior to the nation
 Gandhi — purity of means — cannot achieve right ends by following wrong means —> politics ethics not
separable —> If separated — death trap
 According to Dunning, Machiavelli is one of the most unfortunate figures in the history of western political
philosophy. Paradox that he has been criticized for telling ‘what is’ the reality of politics.
 Machiavelli understood the significance of morality.
o Where people are moral/virtuous, he recommended republic.
o He advised that prince should remain moral except where national interest is at stake; people
should remain moral at all times.
o He was telling the state of politics as it was, not how it ought to be.

Other Advices
1.  “ Whether Machiavelli was anti-religious or irreligious”
o Neither of the above
o Against the church — reason — corrupt at that time — obstacle to the unification of Italy
o Against Church’s interference in Politics
o M understood importance of religion —> disciplinary force —> Also says prince should not appear
either of above in public despite his  personal views
o Religion can be used for state — But religion should not be an obstacle in the path of National Interest
 o Father of European Secularism
o Utilitarian approach -> Appear religious -> Use in national interest.
2. "Machiavelli suggests that if a situation arises, Prince should prefer common man over the nobles”
o Common man not a threat to Prince, whereas the nobles have an ambition to come to power.
o Nobles - Parasite class
3. Machiavelli was the first person to recommend the army of nationals
4. Machiavelli supported Expansionist Foreign policy
o He says where the culture is same, Prince can rule, but where it is different — lieutenants
5. Fortune (Bad Luck in Italy)
o M was a realist to acknowledge the role of fortune - luck factor beyond human control
o Even with all the qualities the prince can face failure
o Bad times - torrential rain and roaring rivers - devastate the prince completely
o Wise prince — make prior arrangements to minimise damage — embankments to control floods
o Fortune <=> Women — embrace brave men — similarly fortune favours brave men
o Act with courage
o M’s optimism
6. View on Discourses
o Wherever possible - Republic
o Wherever necessary - Monarchy ruling with an iron fist
o But never aristocracy — Feudal lords —> Parasites —> Obstacle for unification of Italy

Assessment of Machiavelli as a thinker

All questions — "Politics is not Ethics"

Machiavelli was a child of his times

 Laski
 True for every thinker, but most appropriate for M
 All major developments of the time reflected in works of M —> Reflects the spirit of his time
 Major developments
o Renaissance : Spirit of enquiry and Humanism —> Human Nature centre of M’s theory
o Reformation : Sepn b/w Church and state-> “Father of European secularism”
o Breakdown of Feudalism : Preference for the common man over nobles
o Rise of Nation States : Italy becomes a strong nations state, Nationalism over Religion & Army of
nationals
o Rise of Capitalism: M describes human nature as self centred, materialistic and possessive — reflect
the psychology of bourgeoise class.
o Age of Exploration : Expansionist foreign policy
  Thus correct to say so.

Machiavelli was narrowly dated and narrowly located

 Sabine -
o Narrowly dated and narrowly placed with his pessimistic views w.r.t. politics because he belonged to
Italy of that time.
o Had he belonged to some other time and space he may not have been so pessimistic.
 Sabine not entirely wrong but also true that
 True that M has “TRANSCENDENTAL” significance, Universal significance
 Significance cannot be questioned. Source of inspiration for many scholars including— international
relations
 F o Realism and European Secularism.
 Origin of Behaviouralism
 Prince intro
 Kautaliya - diff time and space - ancient india -  similar -
 Nehru in "Discovery of India" called Kautaliya as Indian Machiavelli

To what extent is it appropriate to call Machiavelli as the first modern thinker

 Calling M the first modern thinker is a matter of debate
 First to give - Idea of nation state, Secularism
 Did not give the idea of Sovereignty
 Hobbes - most imp idea in modern pol phil - Complete Theory of Sovereignty of State
 M could not explain nation-state comprehensively.
 M— Copernicus then Hobbes —> Galileo of Pol Phil
 M was a non-medieval thinker and amodern

Q. I have resolved to open a new route, which has not been followed by anyone
 New Route - Nation state, Secularism , Ethics separate
Q. Explain how M’s application of empirical methods led to the beginning of a new phase in political science
 Pol sc - one of the oldest disciplines - origin - Ancient greece
 It is also dynamic - keeps changing with time
 Plato - FoPP - No distinction b/w Ethics and Politics and method of Dialectics
 Aristotle - FoPS - Some realism - empirical method in ToRevolutions - still no distinction b/w E&P
 Medieval times - Pol science under religion
 M - New age —> FoP Realism - empirical method — what is rather than what ought to be
1. Empirical method — human nature and history
 2. Politics is neither religion nor ethics
3. Autonomous discipline
4. Spirit of political enquiry
5. Influence of Machiavelli on behavioral politics.
Q. Power is an end in itself
Q. Comparison with Kautilya – See from copy
Q. I conclude again by saying that prince must esteem nobles but not make himself hated by the populace
 Prince is the best book on statecraft. It tells any enterprising person how to come to power and stay in power
 Child of his times —> End of feudalism
 Not to antagonise anyone, but if the situation demands - P must choose people over the nobles
 View on discourses - never aristocracy —> Parasite class.