Machiavelli, A Prince Should Do Whatever Is Necessary For The Country To Survive?

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Jazz Williams
Sunstein
Pol 308
April 5, 2015
Machiavelli
A prince should do whatever is necessary for the country to survive. If this means being ruthless, feared, having a strong military, he supports it. If an issue arises a Prince should not be afraid to take the required action to solve the problem. He should do this without making the nation despise him. Machiavelli believes that convenience and success should come before morals and principles. Machiavelli thinks for a Prince to be in complete control they have to put fear into their country. Without fear the nation will not work. To be effective you have to do what works. Being nice will not get you the effective results. When a prince is compassionate it can raise disorder in the country. The people will feel like they can do what they feel with out repercussions. Machiavelli decides that being feared is a better outcome than being loved. When a Prince is feared the people of the country are less willing to commit a crime or turn against the Prince due to the punishment that would come from doing such thing. While a Prince wants to be feared they do not want to be hated. Being cruel in certain situations will help a prince succeed. If a prince is afraid to be cruel problems will occur. Being ruthless is necessary if it puts disorder to a halt. If failing to be cruel would lead to more harm it is good and recommended to be cruel. Machiavelli believes strongly in the military. According to the prince there are three types of armies. These are mercenaries, the prince’s own army, and auxiliary armies. Without the military it will be hard to force things to happen. When Machiavelli talks about a strong military he is not talking about the mercenaries. “Because they have no affection for you, and no reason to go into battle except the small wages you pay them, and those aren’t enough to make them willing to doe for you! If a war comes they are not likely to stay and fight for you, but run away and avoid the actual war. If the commander is skilled he is only looking to overthrow you so they cannot be trusted. Auxiliaries are borrowed from another state. Their loyalty lies within their own ruler and cannot be trusted either. Even though they do fight good the prince owes his victory to another individual. This is not respectable. To be an effective prince when it comes to war the only thing that they need to know and study is the art of war. If you do not know the art of war than it is easy for you to lose the state that you are running, but if you do learn it than you can maintain not only your state, but win others skillfully. “There is simply no comparison between an armed man and an unarmed one; and it is not reasonable to expect an armed man to be willing to obey one who is unarmed.” If a prince does not understand the art of war it will be hard for the people to obey his command. Machiavelli believed that a ruler should know how to do wrong. He who tries to do what is morally right instead of what needs to be done will soon lose his power. Being honest all of the time can cause people to take advantage of you and show weakness. A prince never wants to be looked at as weak. He wants to be looked at as virtuous. To stay in power a ruler sometimes has to act mischievously. While doing
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