Machiavelli The Qualities Of The Prince Analysis

Machiavelli’s Advice and its Effectiveness on Modern Politics In “The Qualities of the Prince,” Niccolò Machiavelli argues that although a prince would ideally want to be characterized as possessing the qualities of virtue and righteousness, he must also be willing to resort to actions that are immoral or deceitful in order to maintain power. Although having qualities of vice might damage the reputation of a leader temporarily, Machiavelli argues that it will lead to the rise and success of a leader in the long run. For instance, he supports the negative reputation that a leader might get from being cruel, miserly, and untruthful over the positive reputation that a leader might get from being generous, kind and trustworthy. Despite Machiavelli blatantly disregarding the civil rights of citizens, the advice that he gives is surprisingly still relevant to modern politics even after half a millennium. Machiavelli first warns leaders to beware of excessive generosity. Although many would believe that a generous leader would be loved and respected by his subjects, Machiavelli argues that it is also generates …show more content…
In addition to the importance of a leader to have a good reputation, it is also important for him to appeal to what citizens want to hear. As a result, for example, many politicians will avoid presenting their opinions on controversial issues that might lose some of their supporters. In addition, its not uncommon for a president to promise changes that are not carried out during his presidency. As we can see, deception is still highly used today by politicians. Many citizens would rather hear good things than bad things, even if they aren’t true. However, the risk a leader takes by excessively using deception is the possibility of losing his credibility, and consequently, losing the support of his people. Therefore, it is also very important to balance the use of