The author Niccolo Machiavelli is a Republican, and in this paper, he has presented the traits and characteristics in a person that can make a good prince. He seems to be very honest and blunt as he portrayed the harsh realities of politics in a very realistic manner. It was after Machiavelli got arrested and tortured by the Duke of Florence, Lorenzo de Medici, on false charges of conspiracy against him. After getting released, he wrote this manual on kingship dedicated to Lorenzo de Medici.
Machiavelli thinks that a leader must be in a position of strength to rule the common people and this strength can only be obtained through manipulation of the masses. He should have control over the emotions of people. It can be achieved by having a ruthless attitude towards people. I think what the author means is that a leader should be feared more than he is loved. It helps in establishing power, and the masses are more loyal and obedient to such leaders. It can be considered true as people tend to get rebellious if they are not afraid. To maintain law and order, brutality is necessary to some extent. A prince should also have a sense of honor and glory. He should be capable of taking big decisions that have the ability to bring massive changes to the politics of the country.
I believe that Machiavelli is a bit misunderstood. I believe he just presented a manual on how to be a better prince rather than giving out an idea about how every government should work. However, the irony is the politicians who tried to follow Machiavelli and his theory mostly turned out to be dictators or authoritarian leaders. Thus, his theory is considered as somewhat a supporter of draconian rule.
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