Machiavelli's Leadership Philosophy

The lack of good leadership qualities is mirrored in many past and present events in the world today. There is a pressing need for developing strong leadership, which will guide people towards sustainable peace and harmony. In The Prince, Machiavelli shares his views on how a prince should behave to acquire and maintain political power.

First of all, although it is not explicitly stated, the ends will always justify the means. This is one of the core assumptions of Machiavelli’s philosophy. Throughout his book he focuses only on what has worked and will work, as opposed to how it should be done, morally speaking. Even if for many citizens today he can easily be interpreted as being irrational or immoral, it would be pure ignorance not to
Power is the most dominant aspect of his theory. Indeed, he stresses that a prince should grasp power in his hands because both internal and external enemies will threaten a power-lacking state (Chapter XIX, p. 88). According to the author, a good prince should aim to create a strong, safe and united country at any cost, by relying on luck, good reputation, skilful preparation and virtuosity (Chapters XV-XXIII). Likewise, he encourages the prince to be merciful, generous and honest whenever possible, but also incites him to “know how to do wrong” whenever needed (Chapter XV, p. 71). Moreover, he shares his perspective about the dual nature of humankind. He argues that a good prince must be able to take on different forms to best fit a particular situation. In other words, he must be able to use a diversified skillset of both humans and beasts to be a successful prince, “it is necessary to be a fox to discover the snares and a lion to terrify the wolves” (Chapter XVIII, p. 84). The prince will therefore use statecraft and diplomacy to avoid risky pitfalls by impersonating the fox, and acting like a lion will allow him to use force in order to maintain his power over both friends and
Arguing that contemporary leaders still mimic the ideal prince is straightforward; nonetheless the more difficult aspect is performing a reassessment of Machiavelli’s arguments to see which qualities could be employed in present day politics. Foreign affairs and an outlook on the globalized world remain powerful strengths. In my opinion, leaders are not innate but are moulded over time. Innovative thinking is thus required to collect qualities by mixing several leadership styles, ranging from Machiavelli’s to non-violent leaders’ such as Mahatma