Kyle Blaser 2237E Essay Assignment 1

7/24/2019 Kyle Blaser 2237E Essay Assignment 1

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University of Western Ontario

The Fight to Power, Niccol Machiavelli and Justifying the Means

Kyle laser

!ntroduction to Political Theory ""#$% &$' FW(&

)r* +rant

Tuesday )ece-er .th"'(&


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Niccol Machiavelli is an !talian theorist -orn (/01, and died (&"$* 2is -oo3 The Prince

4(&(#5 is a -oo3 that highlights ideas on 6olitical theory, ranging fro gaining and aintaining

6ower, and the use of fear and violence* !t is clear that a odern e7a6le of Machiavelli8s theory

is )onald Tru6, however there are soe lessons that Tru6 could gain fro understanding

Machiavelli8s theories* !n analy9ing the acadeic scholarshi6 of :iroli, Tarlton, and Margulies, it

is clear that there are alternating o6inions on )onald Tru6, -ut of is clear;that his technithe ends ?ustify the eans@*

Machiavelli8s -oo3 covers ideas on how 6rinces ay aintain or even increase their

6ower over the 6eo6le they rule* Machiavelli -elieves that 6ower is the 3ey to success for a

leader or a 6olitician* The way 6ower is achieved and aintained according to Machiavelli is a

co6le7 discussion* Power is soething that can -e gained and aintained* Power is soething

that you can ani6ulate and control, and so, good leaders do not coe -y ista3e* Machiavell8s

ideas are essential to success in 6olitics* The ideal 6rince is soeone that is feared and loved,

however, this is hard to -oth achieve and aintain* =s Machiavelli states >= 6rince ust

nevertheless a3e hiself feared in such a anner that he will avoid hatred, even if he does not

ac


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as their leader* The 6eo6le in society can either allow one to -ecoe a great leader or crush

everything that they have wor3ed for* O-edience of the 6o6ulation is critical to a leader8s

success* Machiavelli -elieves that it is -etter to -e feared than to -e loved* !f a leader is feared,

6eo6le are far less li3ely to cross the as doing so would result in 6unishent;soething that

Machiavelli highlights as necessary in aintaining 6ower, however, violence towards the

6o6ulation should -e done inially in order to aintain control, -ut not create hate* On the

other hand the leader can -e loved* There are re6ercussions in -eing loved as a leader -ecause,

generally s6ea3ing, fear generated ore res6ect and o-edience* The 6ro-le with -eing loved is

that, in tough ties, the 6eo6le of society will consider diso-eying the rules -ecause the ruler

does not instill an ade


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-e in co6etition with the 6o6ulation;not an ideal situation if 6ower is to -e aintained*

!nstead, the leader ais to 6rotect their interests, and they always have a way to aintain 6u-lic

ha66iness and unity* !f soething is to go wrong, Machiavelli suggests that the leader can 6lace

the -lae on an individual in society, rather than ta3ing the -lae theselves* Machiavelli

suggests that the 6erson in 6ower is not accounta-le for any wrongBdoings of a society, and that

anything that goes wrong in a society, is at the hands of its inha-itants* Ceaders should do what

they ust in order to aintain 6olitical control* = recurring clai throughout history regarding

6olitical leaders is that they a3e 6roises, and do not e7ecute the* Machiavelli argues that a

good leader does not have to 3ee6 their 6roises, and that a leader ust do anything necessary to

gain and aintain 6owerD the ends ?ustify the eans;even if this re


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his s6eech he used the 6hrase, >Whatever action is re


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heavily on fear to aintain his 6ower, and it wor3s* =s long as the acts are -alanced and swift, it

does not atter what the actual acts are* Machiavelli reali9es that 6oliticians can and often do

rise to 6ower using ioral actions to instill fear aong the general 6u-lic* ut using these

tactics too often can -e too harsh and cause 6eo6le to disli3e one8s 6olitical rule* This is why

rulers that use violence as a tool of control have sca6egoats to fall -ac3 on, li3e orgia8s use of

the ercenary* This could cause the to revolt against the ruler, and the 6u-lic can throw the

out of control* 2owever, when dealing with o66onents of the state, one ust ta3e the use of

violence a ste6 further* !n war, one ust co6letely destroy the a-ility for the eney to see3

revenge* =s Tarlton suari9es, >Ihould you -e re-ecause they can get revenge for sall in?uries -ut not grievous ones@@

4Tarlton, "''"5* Their ca6acity to har the state should not -e 6ossi-le, -ut it is i6ortant that

one does not har anyone else in the 6rocess* !f one is to har another Nation, the state can gain

another eney in the 6rocess* The occasional use of dece6tion is acce6ta-le as long as it is

within reason and has a good outcoe in ind* ! agree with Machiavelli8s use of violence in

6olitics, so long as the reasons of violence are -eing ?ustified* There are ties in today8s society

that Machiavelli8s ethods can -e used to -enefit s6ecific situations*

Iince Machiavelli8s theories thrive on the ideas of fear and 6ower, an e7a6le of a

current 6olitician is )onald Tru6* Tru6 not only uses the ideas of 6ower, in regards to fear,

-ut uses violence to aintain this 6ower* 2is use of fear ongering over the onths of

Nove-er and )ece-er in regards to the Musli 6o6ulation during his ca6aign stri3es fear

into =ericans* 2e clais that every Musli is 6otentially a terrorist, and so his su66orters

-ecoe wary of current MusliB=ericans* Tru6 instills fear into the 6o6ulation, and then

suggests a solutionD eliinate Muslis fro =erica -y de6orting any current citi9ens, and


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refusing any iigrants* y 6roviding a violent solution, his su66orters -egin to -elieve that this

is a 6lausi-le idea and, des6ite the lac3 of ethics in this solution, he gains ore 6ower* )onald

Tru6 is gaining su66orters through fear ongering, and 6roviding violent solutions;?ust as

Machiavelli suggests*

Machiavelli suggests that the -est 6olitician is soeone that is feared, yet loved* )onald

Tru6 can -e ore effective if he changes his ideologies around any to6ics* !f he does not

e76ress such dee6 se7is, racis, and classis, he can -e ore effective of a 6olitician

according to Machiavelli -ecause he will -ecoe ore li3ed* !f he follows soe of the

ideologies outlined -y Machiavelli, he has the 6otential to fit 6erfectly into the idea of the Aideal

6olitician8* )onald Tru6 e76resses hateful language against inorities including woen, lower

class citi9ens, racial inorities, and those with disa-ilities* Tru6 has gained a lot of hate fro a

large aount of the 6o6ulation due to these -latant stateents of elitis* =s highlighted -y en

Margulies, Tru6 uses a tactic of dividingBu6 the 6o6ulation, and creating -arriers -etween

grou6s* One way he does this is through race* =s Margulies states, >there is a -attle -etween

those with a -road conce6tion of who -elongs in the =erican national counity, and those

who -elieve L i6licitly or e76licitly L that only whiteness confers true citi9enshi6@ 4Marguelies,

"'(&5* Tru6 uses techni


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failial status can gain ore 6ower* While this is true, Machavelli also states that those who gain

6ower through inheritance rarely have the s3ills and 3nowledge to aintain this 6ower* )onald

Tru6s >sall loan of a illion dollars@ -y his father is what 6rovided hi the o66ortunity to

-ecoe a 6u-lic figure through the edia, and through his edia 6resence, has gained the

cele-rity to enter into the 6residential ca6aign* Machiavelli states >Where there is a new 6rince,

one fines in aintaining the ore or less difficulty according to the greater or lesser s3ill of the

of the who ac


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Wor3s ited

=ddress efore a Joint Iession of the ongress on the Itate of the Union* The =erican

Presidency Pro?ect* ". Jan* "''#* We-* (' )ec* "'(&*


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ahn, Iteven M* lassics of Political and Moral Philoso6hy* New or3D O7ford UP, "''"* Print*

Tarlton, harles )* =9ioni in Modo lUna )all=ltraD =ction for =ctions Ia3e in

Machiavellis the Prince Political =ction, Machiavelli, :irt and Fortuna, the Prince,

Political ausality* 2istory of %uro6ean !deas "1*" 4"''#5D ("#B/'* We-*

Margulies, en* Hace, lass and HageD Hight Po6ulis on oth Iides of the =tlantic* Political

Itudies =ssociation 4"'(&5* Print

:iroli, Mauri9io* Machiavellis Healis* onstellations (/ 4"''$5D /00B."* Print*

Kyle Blaser 2237E Essay Assignment 1

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