FFW (5 min; 10 sentences): To rule effectively, is it better to be loved or feared? Why? Cite an example
What Can You Learn from Machiavelli?
“It is necessary for a prince wishing to hold his own to know how to do wrong.” Advice like this, offered by Niccolò Machiavelli in The Prince, made its author’s name synonymous with the ruthless use of power. But Robert Harrison suggests you should be careful before looking for leadership lessons in The Prince.
Machiavelli wrote The Prince to serve as a handbook for rulers, and he claims explicitly throughout the work that he is not interested in talking about ideal republics or imaginary utopias, as many of his predecessors had done: “There is such a gap between how one lives and how one should live that he who neglects what is being done for what should be done will learn his destruction rather than his preservation.”
This is a prime example of what we call Machiavelli’s political realism—his intention to speak only of the “effectual truth” of politics, so that his treatise could be of pragmatic use in the practice of governing. But here is where things start to get complicated.
How so? Let’s take a step back. One of the ironies surrounding Machiavelli is that there has never been anything resembling a Machiavellian school of thought. For all their so-called realism, his political theories have not led to any grand social or political movements, nor has he sponsored any revolutions, nor inspired any new constitutions. In the history of European or world politics, he is not nearly as important as someone like Rousseau, for instance, who in many ways laid the ideological foundation for the French Revolution, to say nothing of Marx, whose theories led to concrete social and political transformations in many 20th-century societies.
The Prince was not even read by the person to whom it was dedicated, Lorenzo de Medici. If the truth be told, this strange little treatise for which Machiavelli is famous, or infamous, never aided—at least not in any systematic way—anyone in the actual business of governing. The most one can say about The Prince in this regard is that Kissinger and Nixon preferred it as their bedtime reading.
So why are we still reading this treatise five centuries later?
The answer, I think, has to do with the fact that this book is what we call a classic. Its enduring value in my view lies not so much in its political theories as in the way it discloses or articulates a particular way of looking at the world. The Prince shows us what the world looks like when viewed from a strictly demoralized perspective. I think that’s what the fascination and also the scandal is all about.
Historical Context
Chapter I: Principalities & How They Are Acquired
LEARNING OBJECTIVE
Students will:
Analyze the different kinds of principalities and their modes of acquisition as presented in The Prince.
Evaluate Machiavelli's argument on political power and its implications for governance.
FFW (5 minutes; 10 sentences):
Why does Machiavelli argue that new principalities are harder to maintain than hereditary ones? Do you agree or disagree? Why?
OR
What does Machiavelli’s categorization of principalities tell us about his views on human nature? How do you know (cite evidence from last night's reading)?
Share out
What Do I See?
FFW (5 min; 10 sentences): How do you think leaders during this time maintained power?
DIRECT INSTRUCTION (10 minutes)
Lecture:
Define principalities (hereditary vs. new).
Explain the modes of acquiring power: through arms, fortune, or virtue.
Textual Analysis:
Share key excerpts:
“All states are Republics or Principalities...”
“Men willingly change their lords in the belief that they will fare better.”
GUIDED PRACTICE (10 minutes)
Divide students into pairs
Provide a graphic organizer with the following categories:
Types of Principalities (Hereditary, New, Mixed).
Modes of Acquisition (Virtue, Fortune, Arms).
Think - Pair - Share
Why does Machiavelli believe fortune alone is insufficient for maintaining power? (turn to neighbor and share your ideas)
INDEPENDENT PRACTICE (10 minutes)
Student Choice Activity:
Option #1: Write a speech as a ruler of a new principality, explaining your strategy for maintaining power.
Option #2: Create a flowchart of Machiavelli’s argument on acquiring and maintaining principalities.
Option #3: Compare Machiavelli’s principles to a historical or contemporary leader of your choice.
CLOSURE (5 minutes)
Discussion:
How does Machiavelli’s view of human nature influence his political theories?
Do you agree with Machiavelli that acquiring power through virtue is more sustainable than through fortune? Why or why not?
Exit Ticket:
What is one new idea you learned about political power from today’s lesson?
How does this apply to leaders today?