Power and State:
Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527)
I Introduction
Dates:
1469 Birth
1498 Confirmed as second
chancellor to the Florentine republic
1512 Spanish troops attack and
Florence surrenders
Machiavelli convicted
and punished for involvement in anti-Medici conspiracy
1513 Wrote The Prince
1515-19 Wrote Discourses on Livy
1527 Death
Machiavelli expounded requirements for maintenance of
political stability and what is required of those in power in order to secure
these goods? Answer to these questions rest on interplay of desirable personal
qualities of rulers and effective use of force to prevent anarchy. In political
philosophy, Machiavelli enjoys a sinister reputation for justifying amoral
politics or politics devoid of moral considerations. At the same time he also
has been admired for being the first modern thinker who introduced secular
politics. These contradictory images are a result of either misunderstanding of
contexts if his writings or ignorance about their content and implications.
In The Prince, he advised rulers of ways and means to
seize and keep power. While The Discourses instructed on methods to ensure
stability for a new revolutionary regime through participation and philosopher
prince.
According to Machiavelli, politics was to be judged by
success of its outcomes. This helped him make a dispassionate study of
political power and enquire into secular origins of political authority and the
state. His writings represent the dawn of a new age which rejected idealization
and insisted on need to grasp the realities of politics. He was the first to
grasp the tone of changes and initiated scientific study of politics and hence honoured as the “first modern political theorist and scientist”.
II Renaissance-Italy
during Machiavelli’s times:
Sixteenth century Italy had the greatest influence on
Machiavelli’s ideas. Italian state and society were in complete institutional
decay. Even though it was seen as the place of greatest impact of Renaissance,
yet it witnessed the worst political corruption and moral degradation. The older
civic institutions had declined and medieval ideas like church and the empire
were dead. Government agencies resorted to cruelty and violence and public
spirit had been lost. Force and craft had become key to success in public life.
These conditions had a major impact on Machiavelli’s political thought. His
understanding of conditions in Italy led to the belief that human nature was
fundamentally selfish and that only a powerful ruler/prince could bring order
to a diseased polity and society. Thus, state and laws based on use of force
were keys to political success and stability. It was the result of such a
narrow concern that his ideas failed to impact on political thought of the next
two hundred centuries.
III Power
Study of concept of Power is central to Politics. Machiavelli
and Hobbes laid foundations of the concept. Power for Machiavelli was domination
or force. In simple words, he defined power as the ruler’s / prince’s ability
to use threat of force for successful preservation of the sovereign state. The success
of a ruler depended on domination without resorting to use of actual force. The
significance of concept of power/force can be judged from the fact that he
defined politics as the struggle for acquisition, maintenance and consolidation
of political power.
Machiavelli provided a secular outlook to use of
power, devoid of any moral judgments. It was for him simply an instrument for success
in politics. The question of its rightness or wrongness was of no concern. He emphasized
on amoral quality of power. A ruler was to be judged by the successful outcome
of his actions and not the morality of his intentions/actions In other words,
he spoke of its successful use by a ruler for survival and stability of the
state. The only real concern of political ruler is acquisition and maintenance of
power. Only by means of efficient use of power can individuals be coerced in to
obedience to laws. And only by its effective use will the ruler be able to
maintain the state in safety and security. This emphasis of Machiavelli on use of
power/force by ruler is related to his ideas on human nature. A brief look at
the same will be useful to understand the concept.
Entire political thought of Machiavelli is based on
the assumption that human nature is fundamentally selfish. Hence the
ruler/prince must depend on individual desire for security and power for
commanding obedience from people. Human desires for power, wealth, security,
etc are unlimited existed along with scarcity in nature. This leads to conflict
and threat of anarchy. Such a threat can be limited by two things: 1) threat of
force behind law, and 2) ability of the ruler to convince people that only a strong
government can guarantee safety and security of individual life and property.
Thus, only a strong government can prevent anarchy that threatens life and
property.
It is clear from the above that, according to
Machiavelli, humans are bad in general and that a desire for safety of life and
property brings them under a government. To put this in context, he was
concerned with corruption and decline of public spirit in Italy. And that he
traced the roots of this corruption to human nature and absence of strong
ruler. He was convinced that in such a corrupt society, only an absolute
monarchy could bring stability and reform. Prevalence of inequalities of power and
wealth, violence, lawlessness and dishonesty made republican form of government
impossible.
Thus authority belonged to those who had the power/capacity
to enforce it. As a result, he concludes in his advice to the Prince that a
ruler should prefer to cultivate fear in subjects rather than affection. For a
strong ruler, violence and deception are superior to legality in maintaining
effective control over citizens. People obey to commands of ruler/state only
because they fear the loss of their life and or property etc. In the context of
law, Machiavelli argued that obedience to laws depended entirely upon the
threat of coercive/brute force. Hence, Machiavelli argues in favour of an
authority based only on supreme political power. In context, human nature and
prevalent conditions in Italy meant that people are compelled to obey only in
face of superior power of state.
Machiavelli, in The Prince, advised the ruler to
develop certain qualities to achieve success in politics. In summary he
requires the ruler to be of a “flexible character”. In other words the
statesman should be wise enough to know which strategies and techniques are to
be used in what particular circumstances. He refers to this as ‘Virtu’/ Civic Virtu.
A strong Prince should have mastered the art of effective application of power
in any situation. Such qualities prepare the ruler with an ability to strongly
respond to the ever present threat of anarchy.
IV State
Machiavelli is known as the first thinker to use the
term state in his study and analysis of medieval conditions. Thereafter the
concept was developed by later thinkers in political philosophy. The idea of
Sovereign State was emergent in Machiavelli’s political thought. He described
State as ‘the power which has authority over men’. The idea is important
because it describes nature of state and not its ends/ultimate goals/purpose.
He made a definite break from the medieval assumptions
of idea of limited state subordinate to the church/papal authority. He
formulated the idea of state as a secular, independent and morally neutral organisation.
However, a closer look at his ideas also reveals that these were a result of
the specific conditions prevalent during the time. Only a contextual reading of
his thoughts on state would help to understand his concept of state.
Moral degradation and civic corruption in Italy are
the starting points of his analysis. He also looked in to factors that fostered
public spirit overriding private interests. Corruption meant subordination of
public values to private sphere. Simply corruption results when public sphere is
used for furthering private aims and interests. As discussed earlier, for him,
humans had the innate desire to control and dominate others. However need for
security and safety led people to form government of the strongest. Thus, only
a strong state under a powerful ruler could guarantee safety of life and
property to individuals.
Thus a strong ruler and strong state were the
essential requirements for a peaceful and orderly existence. Corruption could
be tackled only with extraordinary measures like rule by a strong prince with
overwhelming powers. In addition martial qualities in rulers were needed to
defend the state against external aggression and internal disunity.
While justifying a powerful state, Machiavelli also
gives supreme importance to ruler as lawmaker or source of laws. Successful
state must be founded by a single man. In a corrupt society, reform should be
undertaken only by a ruler as the source of all laws.
For Machiavelli, ruler as a lawmaker was the architect
of state and society. There was no limit to what statesman could do, provided
he understands the rules of the art of government. Such an exaggerated belief
in capacity of ruler and a state was due to his understanding of the problems
of 16th century Italy and also due to his beliefs on human nature.
These led him to argue that the State and force behind laws must be the only
power that holds society together. Thus moral obedience must finally be derived
from law and government.
Thus Machiavelli supported an absolute state under a
powerful ruler. In this context he recommended double standards of conduct/behavior
for statesman and private citizens. The statesman was to be pragmatic/practical
while dealing with public issues as he would be judged by success of the state.
In contrast, private citizens had to display highest standards of behavior in
public and private life.
However he recommended an absolute state only in certain
circumstances and personally admired republican form of government as the best.
Thus he preferred a strong and powerful state on case of making a new state or
reforming a corrupt state. Once formed, he favoured a participative form of rule inspired by his admiration for the Roman
Republic of the past. Republican government was ideal for stability and survival
of the state. A despotic state based on use of brutal force is to be used
cautiously as a medicine only for a diseased polity.
Thus it is clear that Machiavelli was not referring to
an idea of constitutional state that emerged in modern Europe. However, he can be understood as representing a transition in political institutions at the beginning of Modern
period. He was able to grasp the evolution of state at its very early
stage. Further he himself was doubtful
of possibility of finding a ruler with qualities as mentioned in The Prince.
V Conclusion
In spite
of the criticism, Machiavelli remains unmatched in bringing out the pattern of
changes that were taking place in his times. His ideas represented a decisive
break from the medieval age and hence announced the rise of a new era of
modernity in politics and society. His conclusions were drawn on scientific
methods of study of political phenomenon. As Sabine observes, “he was perhaps
too practical” to make a philosophical impact, but in among all his
contemporaries, he stands out as the one with the clearest grasp of entire
European tradition. Such ideas also laid the foundation for Realistic approach to
International Politics. Thus his greatness lies in the field of the possible
and the practical as against the ideal. His ideas represent intersection
between the medieval and the modern.
Sources
1.
Mukherjee, S. and Ramaswamy S., ‘ A History of
Political Thought’, 2012,PHI, New Delhi.
2.
Sabine, George and Thorson Thomas., ‘A History
of Political Thought’, 1973, Oxford and IBH, New Delhi.
