Abstract
It is of the utmost importance for rulers to be perceived as individuals who are solely animated by the desire to serve the common good. In order to do so, they must show great care in the way their actions are perceived by their people as well as not hesitate to resort to morally dubious behaviors.
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Notes
- 1.
This example has a lot in common with the already-mentioned example of Cesare Borgia who had his lieutenant Remirro de Orco executed, which was seen as the only way to appease the people of his newly given principality.
- 2.
About resorting to immoral actions as a last resort option, Machiavelli writes the following in the Prince: “Yet, as I have said above, a Prince should not to turn away from the good if he can avoid doing so, but, if it is truly necessary, then he should know how to set about it” (Section 18).
- 3.
Machiavelli writes in the Prince: “Among the best ordered and governed kingdoms of our times is France and in it are found many good institutions on which the liberty and security of the king depends. Of these, the first is the parliament and its authority. The person who founded the kingdom, knowing the ambition of the nobility and their boldness, considered that there needed to be a way to control them. On the other side, knowing the hatred of the people, founded in fear, against the nobles, he wished to protect the people. However, he did not want this to be the particular responsibility of the king. Therefore, to take away the criticism which the king would face from the nobles for favouring the people and from the people for favouring the nobles, he set up the parliament which would be one who could beat down the great and favour the lesser without the king being blamed. You could not have a better or more effective arrangement, or a greater source of security to the king and kingdom. From this, one can draw another important conclusion, that Princes ought to leave affairs which may upset some people to the management of others, and keep those which will make people happy in their own hands” (Section 19).
- 4.
Regarding the importance of cultivating an image of a virtuous ruler, Machiavelli writes in the Prince that “Men judge generally more by the eye than by the hand, because everybody can see you, but few come in touch with you. Everyone sees what you appear to be, but few really know what you are, and those few dare not oppose the opinion of the many, who have the power of the state to defend them. In the actions of all men, and especially of Princes, which it is not wise to challenge, one judges by the result. For that reason, let a Prince have the credit for conquering and holding his state, the means will always be considered honest, and he will be praised by everybody. This is because the common people are always influenced by what a thing seems to be and by what results from it. In this world only the common people matter when their minds are firmly made up” (Chapter 18).
- 5.
Which resulted in more than 10 million workers going on strike.
- 6.
Prior to his radio broadcast, the government had made it known that troops were on stand-by just outside of Paris: an information that had been broadcasted by various radio channels.
- 7.
As Machiavelli writes in the Prince: “Therefore a Prince, so long as he keeps his subjects united and loyal, ought not to mind the criticism of cruelty. By making an example of a few people, he will be more merciful than those who, through too much mercy, allow rebellions to arise, from which follow murders or robberies. These are likely to injure the whole people, while those killings which are commanded by the Prince only affect the individual” (Chapter 17). He adds about the dynamic between being loved and being feared the following: “Men are less worried about offending one who is loved than one who is feared. Love is preserved by the link of gratefulness which, owing to the weak nature of men, is broken at every opportunity for their advantage; but fear preserves you by a fear of punishment which never fails” (Chapter 17).
- 8.
It is worth noting that the Great Purge was known in Russian historiography as Yezhovshchina (meaning Yezhov’s doings) and that Yezhov was portrayed by Soviet propaganda as an enemy of the people.
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Caron, JF. (2019). How Princes Ought to Be Perceived. In: The Prince 2.0: Applying Machiavellian Strategy to Contemporary Political Life. The Steppe and Beyond: Studies on Central Asia. Palgrave Pivot, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-0353-5_9
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