Machiavelli writes in The Qualities of the Prince, that it is better to be a miser and slightly disliked for a while than to be generous and be liked for a while than hated. If you’re a generous prince you can only be so for a short time before having to raise taxes and having people realize that you’re not that generous in all reality. Once a prince gets a reputation for being hated he will feel any slight unrest of his people. On the other hand if a prince is miserly from the get go he will be received gratefully when he decides to be generous. Using this quality of miserliness he has the ability to expand and defend his kingdom and be ready for any unforeseen events without having to burden his people, which, in turn leads to economic growth.
Generosity done openly runs the risk of making the prince broke; a broke prince will have to raise his taxes in order to keep up his reputation for being generous. This tax raise will affect all but only benefit a few which, in turn, will ruin the prince by having him become hated by most of his subjects. The hatred that occurs from this will soon lead to an overthrowing/assassination of the prince if he doesn’t soon change his ways. If the prince does abruptly chance his ways and becomes a miser; his subjects that benefited from his generosity will grow restless and the ones that didn’t will despise the prince more.
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Machiavelli writes, “…it is very necessary to be thought generous.” This statement is one of Machiavelli’s reoccurring themes throughout the book of appearance vs. reality; the prince needs to have everyone think he is very generous, which they will, when in fact he is being very stingy. His subjects won’t realize it because they are not burdened with taxes and can use their money for other things which will help bolster the economy.
Miserliness will be looked down upon at first for the prince but soon his subjects will come to appreciate the prince’s miserliness, his ability to expand the kingdom and to protect them without putting any strain on them.
For the prince it is more of what he did not do than what he did. The prince lets the feuding families grow in enmity. He doesn’t take enough action to squash his rebellious subjects’ uproars, and when he does take action and punishes them, he is too lenient. The prince himself acknowledges his faults by saying, “And I for winking at your discords too. Have lost a brace of kinsmen.
Niccolò Machiavelli was a man who lived during the fourteen and fifteen hundreds in Florence, Italy, and spent part of his life imprisoned after the Medici princes returned to power. He believed that he should express his feelings on how a prince should be through writing and became the author of “The Qualities of a Prince.” In his essay, he discusses many points on how a prince should act based on military matters, reputation, giving back to the people, punishment, and keeping promises. When writing his essay, he follows his points with examples to back up his beliefs. In summary, Machiavelli’s “The Qualities of a Prince,” provides us with what actions and behaviors that a prince should have in order to maintain power and respect.
The goal of the treaty of Versailles was to prevent war, but instead it caused another. World War I was fought through 1914-1918 and ended with more than 41 million casualties. World War I was supposed to be the war to end all wars but, the Treaty of Versailles punished Germany which led to more conflicts.Therefore, the Treaty of Versailles was a cause of World War II because, it weakened the German economy, the terms of the treaty angered and humiliated Germany, and it helped Hitler to rise to power.
The most astounding aspect of The Prince is Machiavelli’s view that princes may indeed, be cruel and dishonest if their ultimate aim is for the good of the state. It is not only acceptable but necessary to lie, to use torture, and to walk over other states and cities. Machiavellianism is defined as “A political doctrine of Machiavelli, which denies the relevance of morality in political affairs and holds that craft and deceit are justified in pursuing and maintaining political power (Def.)” This implies that in the conquest for power, the ends justify the means. This is the basis of Machiavellianism. The priority for the power holder is to keep the security of the state regardless of the morality of the means. He accepts that these things are in and of themselves morally wrong, but he points out that the consequences of failure, the ruin of states and the destruction of cities, can be far worse. Machiavelli strongly emphasizes that princes should not hesitate to use immoral methods to achieve power, if power is necessary for security and survival.
Machiavelli believes that a government should be very structured, controlled, and powerful. He makes it known that the only priorities of a prince are war, the institutions, and discipline. His writings describes how it is more important for a prince to be practical than moral. This is shown where he writes, "in order to maintain the state he is often obliged to act against his promise, against charity, against humanity, and against religion" (47). In addition, Machiavelli argues that a prince may have to be cunning and deceitful in order to maintain political power. He takes the stance that it is better for the prince to be feared than loved. His view of how a government should run and his unethical conduct are both early signs of dictatorship.
All about a prince is the danger of death. This danger may come from treason within his government, war with foreign enemies, or a rebellion of his people. The situation is always kill-or-be-killed, and the Fifth Commandment - "Thou shalt not kill." - is discarded before it is ...
The punitive terms of the Treaty of Versailles destabilized Germany and fostered resentment that helped lead to the ultranationalist platform of right-wing parties such as the Nazis, and subsequently, Hitler. Also, the new borders drawn by France and Britain for reasons of self interest rather than the best interests of the many groups living in the Middle East has disrupted the area for decades. Therefore, it is clear that the Treaty of Versailles has not ensured lasting peace; the treaty has rather destabilized Eastern Europe and the Middle East, leading to World War II and the present-day conflict in the Middle
Machiavelli’s The Prince was written more than 500 years ago and it is “one of the most influential and controversial books published in Western literature.” (Article A) It was about Machiavelli’s political philosophies and the basic principles of what he believes a politician or “prince” should be. The three main ideas of the Prince were “Liberality and Stinginess”, “Cruelty and Mercy: Is It Better to Be Loved Than Feared, or the Reverse?”, and “How a Prince Should Keep Their Promises” and for the most part many of his concepts should or are already instilled in our government.
Additionally, The Prince states that secular forms of government are more realistic than pious ones because a pious government would be bound by morals. In the Prince, Machiavelli tries to convey that the end justifies the means, which means any thing goes. He claims that it would be ideal for a prince to possess all the qualities that are deemed good by other men, but states that no leader can accomplish that. He also states that the security of the state should be the prince’s first priority and it must be protected by any means necessary. Although, this can be true in certain cases, Machiavelli uses it as an excuse to use evil and cruel tactics.
Machiavelli understood the importance of keeping the good will of the governed populace, and with this as its backbone, The Prince provides historically supported advice on how to rule. Because of this, the Machiavellian doctrine has been accepted and followed, knowingly or unknowingly, by multitudes of princes, kings, prime ministers and presidents since his time.
He is a member of royalty and the way that people view him should never be a manner of low esteem. The demanding position that he holds is for a path of greatness, due to his role he should always be hated or loved. One of the greatest qualities of a prince is the way that he carries himself. His impression has to be lavish and prominent, because he will always be on public display. “Therefore, it is not necessary for a prince to have all the above mention of qualities, but it is necessary for him to appear to have them.
Today in our society Human Trafficking is bigger than ever. Men, women, and children are being stolen and traded for sex and labor everyday. As a society we need to stand up and fight against the Traffickers. Human Trafficking needs to be brought to the attention of everyone. we as human beings need to implement a plan to stop trafficking of humans. In addition we need to provide help to people who have been trafficked. Finally it's important to inform every American and even more important to inform the leaders of our country about this awful crime.
Niccoló Machiavelli claims in “The Qualities of the Prince” that a prince must have certain qualities that will allow him to seize and maintain his power as a ruler. Machiavelli asserts that these qualities will guarantee the ruler to be able to govern his subjects effectively. According to him, a prince must study the art of war, must understand generosity and to what extent he must be generous to be effective, must choose to either be loved or feared, and be able to keep his word to his citizens according to the situation. These qualities can still apply in today’s politics, and will be useful for a modern time politician as long as they are used carefully.
Being a successful leader also means being able to anticipate trouble even when everything seems fine, and this forethought is what so many fail to consider. Using Italian rulers as an example of why Italian princes have lost their estates, Machiavelli writes, “ Their own indolence was to blame because having never imagined when times were quiet they they could change (and this is a common failing of mankind, never to anticipate a storm when the sea is calm), when adversity came their first thoughts were of flight and not of resistance. (page 78). A successful prince needs to be skilled in the art of war, but Machiavelli would agree that this skill is very useful for affairs aside international ones, such as domestic affairs. At one point or another a leader is faced with an arduous decision that involves hurting a part of the population. Machiavelli realizes that there is no realistic way of governing a group of people and keeping them all content at the same time, therefore a prince must systematically make tough decisions, keeping the majority content as the minority can not overthrow once you've taken everything they have. It may seem immoral to hurt the minority simply because they can not rebel, however, it makes far much more sense than causing hurt upon the majority, as that would make a prince contemptible, therefore staggering his political
Machiavelli’s advice to princes directly correlated to his view on human nature. He believed that every common man was born evil and selfish. That did not stop him, however, from saying that humans many show instances when they exhibit generosity and wholeheartedness. He does tell princes, however, not to count on the few occurrences that may happen, and he says, “It is necessary to be a prince to know thoroughly the nature of the people, and one of the populace to know the nature of princes”. He is saying is that it is imperative that a prince knows the natural human nature, that each and every human will become more self-interested than interested in the good of the state. If he is ignorant to that fact, his kingdom/area of rule will deteriorate simply because he believes in the citizens that occupy it. He does believe, however, that with the right training, a human being can be molded (with the help of the state, of course) and he says, “Nature creates few men brave, industry and training makes many.” Although he believes that people cannot change themselves for the good, he does think that the state and military can shape humans for the better, but there will always be