How Is Machiavelli Relevant Today

Niccolo Machiavelli was born in Florence, Italy, in1469, into a very powerful and wealthy family. As a young man, Machiavelli went into politics, but his views were contrary to others at the time. To get his way, he tried to form a militia group in 1512, and was banned from politics. For his involvement in the commotion, he served some time in jail, during which Machiavelli studied political history and wrote one of his most well-known works, The Prince. Niccolo’s status as a respected diplomat, personal experience with politics, and jail time, drove his opinions described in his novel. The central idea of his novel is that absolute control must be maintained at all costs, even through frowned upon ways. Machiavelli starts the novel off by labeling different types of

He talks about knowing and understanding history, then applying it to current situations, which is still done by world leaders daily. Machiavelli also emphasizes that a leaders must have a balance of sympathy and prudence as well as mercy and brutality. He shows that, in order to be respected and influential, a leader must not act with their hearts, but use their brain and apply the logic over the emotion. His opinion alludes to the modern judicial systems but, in Machiavelli’s time, leaders actually based their decisions on emotion. Lastly, Machiavelli shows the actual role of leaders. He believed that the leader should be concerned with the state along with its people and its prosperity. These leaders should act according to these beliefs despite their own opinions and principles. This issue is extremely important in government, especially dealing with world conflicts, such as the World Wars and even today’s Isis attacks. Another one of his colossal themes was leadership and fortune. He felt that too many politicians relied on wealth to maintain their countries and status, but these politicians always