Machiavelli's Shortcomings

The Shortcomings of the Prince
For the course of nearly five hundred years, the name “Machiavelli” has come to be synonymous with duplicity and underhanded political maneuvering. Known best in modern times for his political work, The Prince, Niccolo Machiavelli was born in 1469 in Florence, Italy during a time when a handful of city states and monarchies in Europe wrestled violently for control of the Italian peninsula. Machiavelli grew to become a diplomat for the Italian city state of Florence, later being removed from his position when the exiled Medici family regained power over the city. In an unsuccessful attempt to curry favor with the Medicis during a dark time in his career, the diplomat dedicated a treatise of leadership to its head,
Although Machiavelli’s principles functioned reasonably well in an environment of absolutist rulers, they are ultimately not conducive to a stable and flourishing society. Written in the context of war-torn city states in Renaissance Italy, Machiavelli’s rules oversimplify the nature of humans in society, stunt the ability for a society to develop intellectually, and diminish the role of leadership to that of mere power consolidation.
Machiavelli’s principles grossly oversimplify the condition of humans in society. In order to understand how these principles oversimplify the human condition, the argument must be clarified. One of the main premises that underlie the style of government advocated by Machiavelli is the belief that men are, by nature, base and disloyal creatures. He argues that “this is to be asserted in general of men, that they are ungrateful, fickle, false, cowardly, [and] covetous, and as long as you succeed they are yours entirely… when the need is far distant; but when [great need] approaches they turn against you” (Machiavelli 188). Through his disbelief in men, Machiavelli argues
In focusing on power control above all other factors, a ruler can maintain his seat at the head of the government for the duration of his reign at potentially the cost of the development of his lands. Machiavelli argues that a ruler wishing to effectively maintain his domain must do so through war-like means of duplicity and intimidation. He asserts that a leader must be able to maintain the facade of a virtuous leader capable of mercy, morality, and uprightness. Machiavelli explicitly asserts that the need for a prince to genuinely possess virtuous qualities is unnecessary, and that the facade is only a means to an end. Historical predecessors have argued on similar grounds the usefulness of such a facade. Only a century prior, Christine de Pizan, a French noblewoman and writer from Charles V’s court, asserted that the model appearance afforded by public almsgiving may constitute a “just hypocrisy” but it contributes to a long-term benefit of earning the goodwill of both the people and the clergy (de Pizan 177). Although de Pizan’s method of “just hypocrisy” in almsgiving may appear to support the facade that Machiavelli advocates, in reality, it functions under de Pizan’s ulterior goal of setting a positive moral example amongst the ruler’s people while also garnering their love and affection on an internal level.