Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Machiavellian Politics, Modern Management and the Rise of Donald Trump

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Trump and Political Philosophy

  • 1133 Accesses

Abstract

Machiavelli replaces the distinction between the few and the many with a division on the basis of the two humors: the desire not to be ruled and the desire to rule. In teaching princes how to rule those with the princely humor and satisfy those of the popular humor, Machiavelli introduces the notion of managing and management. Since Machiavelli’s time, the direction of princely acquisition toward market activities has increased the range of activities that require “management,” making management a universal phenomenon. The management theories of Frederick Winslow Taylor and Peter Drucker show that, in becoming a universal phenomenon of business enterprise, management has changed character decisively. In place of one people satisfied by the prince, the popular humor is diffused and fragmented throughout many corporations and industries. The “populism” of Donald Trump and similar politicians can be located in response to this popular fragmentation.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
eBook
USD 24.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 32.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    David Frum, “How to Build an Autocracy,” Atlantic 319, no. 2 (March 2017): 48–59.

  2. 2.

    Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince, trans. Harvey C. Mansfield , 2nd ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998), chap. 9, p. 39.

  3. 3.

    Niccolò Machiavelli, Discourses on Livy, trans. Harvey C. Mansfield and Nathan Tarcov (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996), bk. 1, chap. 4, pp. 16–17.

  4. 4.

    Machiavelli, The Prince, chap. 9, p. 39.

  5. 5.

    Ibid.

  6. 6.

    Ibid.

  7. 7.

    Ibid., chap. 6, p. 23.

  8. 8.

    Ibid., chap. 3, p. 13.

  9. 9.

    Ibid., chap. 13, p. 55.

  10. 10.

    Ibid., chap. 10, p. 43.

  11. 11.

    Ibid., chap. 20, p. 85.

  12. 12.

    Machiavelli , Discourses, bk. 1, chap. 6, par. 3, pp. 21–22.

  13. 13.

    Ibid., bk. 3, chap. 9, par. 3, p. 240.

  14. 14.

    Ibid., bk. 1, chap. 49, par. 2, p. 101.

  15. 15.

    Ibid., bk. 3, chap. 6, par. 2, p. 220.

  16. 16.

    Ibid., bk. 3, chap. 6, par. 3, p. 222.

  17. 17.

    Ibid., bk. 2, pref., par. 1, p. 123.

  18. 18.

    Ibid., bk. 3, chap. 6, par. 19, pp. 232–33.

  19. 19.

    John Locke, Second Treatise of Government, in Two Treatises of Government, ed. Peter Laslett, student edn. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988), chap. 5, par. 34, p. 291.

  20. 20.

    James Bryce, The American Commonwealth, 3 vols. (London: Macmillan, 1888), 1:100–1.

  21. 21.

    Peter Drucker, The Practice of Management (New York: Harper and Row, 1954).

  22. 22.

    Peter Drucker, Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices (New York: Harper and Row, 1974), 5.

  23. 23.

    Anthony Jay, Management and Machiavelli: An Inquiry into the Politics of Corporate Life (New York: Holt, Reinhart and Winston, 1967).

  24. 24.

    See their essay critical of the application of Machiavelli to business practices: Michael Jackson and Damian Grace, “Machiavelli’s Echo in Management,” Management and Organizational History 8, no. 4 (2013): 400–14. A similar approach, tracking the effect of particular Machiavellian strategies on modern business, is Ernest Alan Buttery and Ewa Maria Richter, “On Machiavellian Management,” Leadership and Organization Development Journal 24, no. 8 (2003): 426–35. See also, among others, Phil Harris, Andrew Lock and Patricia Rees, eds., Machiavelli, Marketing and Management (London: Routledge, 2000); Michael Macaulay and Alan Lawton, “Misunderstanding Machiavelli in Management: Metaphor, Analogy and Historical Method,” Philosophy of Management 3, no. 3 (2003): 17–30; Peter J. Galie and Christopher Bopst, “Machiavelli and Modern Business: Realist Thought in Contemporary Corporate Manuals,” Journal of Business Ethics 65 (2006): 235–50.

  25. 25.

    Peter Drucker, The Age of Discontinuity: Guidelines to Our Changing Society (New York: Harper and Row, 1969), 208.

  26. 26.

    Drucker , The Practice of Management, 3.

  27. 27.

    Ibid., 4.

  28. 28.

    Ibid., 7.

  29. 29.

    Ibid., 11.

  30. 30.

    Ibid.

  31. 31.

    Ibid., 12.

  32. 32.

    Ibid., 14.

  33. 33.

    Ibid.

  34. 34.

    Ibid., 13.

  35. 35.

    Ibid., 14.

  36. 36.

    Ibid.

  37. 37.

    Harvey C. Mansfield , Taming the Prince: The Ambivalence of Modern Executive Power (New York: Free Press, 1989).

  38. 38.

    Frederick Winslow Taylor, The Principles of Scientific Management (New York: Harper, 1913), 9.

  39. 39.

    Ibid., 135.

  40. 40.

    Ibid., 136.

  41. 41.

    Drucker , Practice, 315.

  42. 42.

    Ibid., 289.

  43. 43.

    Ibid., 255–61.

  44. 44.

    See Julius Krein, “James Burnham’s Managerial Elite,” American Affairs 1, no. 1 (Spring 2017): 126–51.

  45. 45.

    Machiavelli, The Prince, chap. 9, p. 39.

  46. 46.

    Wolfgang Streeck, How Will Capitalism End?: Essays on a Failing System (London: Verso, 2016).

References

  • Bryce, James. The American Commonwealth. 3 vols. London: Macmillan, 1888.

    Google Scholar 

  • Buttery, Ernest Alan, and Ewa Maria Richter. “On Machiavellian Management.” Leadership and Organization Development Journal 24, no. 8, 2003: 426–35.

    Google Scholar 

  • Drucker, Peter. The Practice of Management. New York: Harper and Row, 1954.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. The Age of Discontinuity: Guidelines to Our Changing Society. New York: Harper and Row, 1969.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices. New York: Harper and Row, 1974.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frum, David. “How to Build an Autocracy.” Atlantic 319, no. 2, 2017, March: 48–59.

    Google Scholar 

  • Galie, Peter J., and Christopher Bopst. “Machiavelli and Modern Business: Realist Thought in Contemporary Corporate Manuals.” Journal of Business Ethics 65, 2006: 235–50.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harris, Phil, Andrew Lock, and Patricia Rees, eds. Machiavelli, Marketing and Management. London: Routledge, 2000.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jackson, Michael, and Damian Grace. “Machiavelli’s Echo in Management.” Management and Organizational History 8, no. 4, 2013: 400–14.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jay, Anthony. Management and Machiavelli: An Inquiry into the Politics of Corporate Life. New York: Holt, Reinhart and Winston, 1967.

    Google Scholar 

  • Krein, Julius. “James Burnham’s Managerial Elite.” American Affairs 1, no. 1, 2017, Spring: 126–51.

    Google Scholar 

  • Locke, John. Second Treatise of Government. In Two Treatises of Government, edited by Peter Laslett. Student edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988.

    Google Scholar 

  • Macaulay, Michael, and Alan Lawton. “Misunderstanding Machiavelli in Management: Metaphor, Analogy and Historical Method.” Philosophy of Management 3, no. 3, 2003: 17–30.

    Google Scholar 

  • Machiavelli, Niccolò. Discourses on Livy. Translated by Harvey C. Mansfield and Nathan Tarcov. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. The Prince. Translated by Harvey C. Mansfield. 2nd ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mansfield, Harvey C. Taming the Prince: The Ambivalence of Modern Executive Power. New York: Free Press, 1989.

    Google Scholar 

  • Streeck, Wolfgang. How Will Capitalism End?: Essays on a Failing System. London: Verso, 2016.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, Frederick Winslow. The Principles of Scientific Management. New York: Harper, 1913.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Dallas, Irving, TX, USA

    Gladden J. Pappin

Authors
  1. Gladden J. Pappin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico

    Angel Jaramillo Torres

  2. Universidad Iberoamericana, Mexico City, Mexico

    Marc Benjamin Sable

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Pappin, G.J. (2018). Machiavellian Politics, Modern Management and the Rise of Donald Trump. In: Jaramillo Torres, A., Sable, M. (eds) Trump and Political Philosophy. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74445-2_8

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation