Machiavelli and the novelty of its political though - Essay Example

Machiavelli returned back to Florence where he observed how the Medici family was expelled, the oligarchic tyrants who had been in power for decades. He also witnessed the rise of Savanorola Girolamo, a firm religious believer who took over the power in Florence for a short period after the Medici Family. At that period, Italy was under severe political clashes. States were in a scramble for power over Italy, and so did Spain, France, and the Holy Roman Empire. Each state engaged in a battle of outdoing the powers of their opponents which amounted to less worthy activities as violence and blackmail (Herbert, 2007).

That same year of the return of Machiavelli, the French attacked under the leadership of Charles VIII. This flow of events during Machiavelli’s time pressured Machiavelli’s thoughts about governance. This formed the basis of his later heartfelt appeal for the Italians to unite. Machiavelli in his farm wrote a controversial book called The Prince which is termed as a realistic guide for ruling. Machiavelli uses this book to expose his thought on political power. However, this piece of art and Machiavelli’s tool of conveying his thought on politics has received criticism from various scholars that it only guides on how not to rule and not how to rule.

Machiavelli uses a simple style and logic for the reader to understand, and this is due to his bid to provide political advice (Ryan, 2013). He evidently exposes his purpose of writing the book from the beginning of the book where he devotes the book to the ruler of Florence, Lorenzo de’ Medici. In his beginning two chapters of the book, The Prince, Machiavelli less talks about republican regimes and puts more of his concern on the autocratic regimes. He sets up the outline of the entire book in the first chapter by delineating the different princes’ and categories of principalities.

According to Machiavelli’s book, he talks about warcraft and statesmanship where he considers that superior laws are track naturally from a superior military. He demonstrates this when he says “the presence of sound military forces indicates the presence of sound laws”. He tries to elaborate how a sound military system is related to the formulation of sound laws for the state. Machiavelli has a rather contradicting perspective on the war; he believes that triumphant states are built after a war has been won.

This is contrary to the conventional understanding that successful states are those without war. His thought about war is fundamentally on how to make a city or state much stronger, how to handle citizens on newly acquired regions, and how to avoid internal rebellions that may be a hindrance in overcoming external adversaries. Machiavelli in his political thought gives emphasis not only on making use of the military but he also includes global diplomacy, calculated strategy, understanding geographical regions, understanding history, and domestic politics.

This kind of political thinking be Machiavelli was timely novelty at the period when Italy was facing attacks from principalities neighboring them. Machiavelli also highlights how the human nature has impacts on politics. He says “|Love endures by a bond which men, being scoundrels, may break whenever it serves their advantage to do so; but fear is supported by the dread of pain, which is ever present”. He believes that various political traits are intrinsic in individuals’