From the prince to the politician

Abstract

As the model of government known as liberal democracy has evolved in recent centuries, politicians have replaced princes (and kings) as key players in determining how governments will operate. But while politicians in most countries act as the proxy for those who make up the electorate, they are quite unlike princes, who could inherit power, marry into power, or seize power. The politician must obtain it from the people by way of election and share it with other politicians. And having obtained power, the politician seeking to retain it must use means princes never needed to consider. Those means are a principal focus of this book.

The people’s government, made for the people,

made by the people, and answerable to the people.

Daniel Webster

From Webster’s second Senate speech on Foote’s Resolution (1830), The Oxford Dictionary of Political Quotations, Anthony Jay, ed. (Oxford: 1997), p. 382. Lincoln’s famous phrase—“…government of the people, by the people, for the people”—is more memorable, but why is that so? Is it the speaker, the context, or the odd-number rule: that two or four examples or repetitions (in this case of “people”) are less effective, less memorable, less poetic perhaps than three or five? In any event, the rise of the people’s government meant the replacement of princes with politicians. As Niccolò sought to explain the former’s behavior, I want to assist you in understanding the latter’s.