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POLITICAL
STRATEGY
(APA Format)
Running Head: POLITICAL STRATEGY
Political
Strategy
(Name of the writer appears here)
(Name of the institution appears here)
Theory Of Political Strategy
Machiavellianism, as a term, has been used to
describe the principles of power politics. The
type of person who uses those principles in political
or personal life is frequently described as a
Machiavellian. Machiavelli leaves behind the idealism
of the medieval Christian king and looks instead
to what he views as the realities of human nature.
As he does throughout the book, Machiavelli uses
examples from classical Rome to support his points.
He refers to the great Carthaginian general Hannibal
and his noted Roman opponent, Scipio Africanus.
"Is it better to be loved than feared, or
vice versa? I don't doubt that every prince would
like to be both; but since it is hard to accommodate
these qualities, if you have to make a choice,
to be feared is much safer than to be loved. For
it is a good general rule about men, that they
are ungrateful, fickle, liars and deceivers, fearful
of danger and greedy for gain. While you serve
their welfare, they are all yours, offering their
blood, their belongings, their lives, and their
children's lives, as we noted above-so long as
the danger is remote. But when the danger is close
at hand, they turn against you. Then, any prince
who has relied on their words and has made no
other preparations will come to grief; because
friendships that are bought at a price, and not
with greatness and nobility of soul, may be paid
for but they are not acquired, and they cannot
be used in time of need. People are less concerned
with offending a man who makes himself loved than
one who makes himself feared: the reason is that
love is a link of obligation which men, because
they are rotten, will break any time they think
doing so serves their advantage; but fear involves
dread of punishment, from which they can never
escape." (Machiavelli, Niccolò, 1992)
Mach Beth and Politics
A general in King Duncan's army who is spurred
on by the prophecy of the Weird Sisters and his
own ambition (and that of Lady MacBeth) to change
the course of Scotland's succession in Shakespeare's
MacBeth. At the outset, MacBeth is a brave, trusted
and respected soldier. He is undone by his inability
to hold his own moral ground, his constant need
to feel secure and his overwhelming need (essentially)
to prove his manhood to his wife. Despite feeling
horror at MacBeth's unconscionable acts, his self-awareness,
uneasiness and haunted spirit to some extent sympathize
with him during the downward spiraling of events.
His political theory is not much different to
Michaela as haunted by his actions and unforeseeable
future, he meditates on the probable personal
toll: "Me thought I heard a voice cry 'Sleep
no more!'." The ultimate hopelessness of
his position becomes clear to him at last, and
he spells this out in two poignant speeches in
Act V, "I have lived long enough" and
"Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow."
Musashi's Politics
Because of his father's failure in business, Yoshikawa
received only a primary-school education and his
early years were difficult. He turned to a more
serious exploration of the human character; he
achieved a kind of perfection with the historical
novel Miyamoto Musashi (1935-39; Musashi), dealing
with the life of a famous samurai. Later he tried
to penetrate more deeply into the lives of Japanese
historical figures in Shin Heike monogatari. His
style of politics were to make relations with
the higher echelons to penetrate into higher hierarchy
to achieve the ultimate goal. (Musashi- 1958-61)
A combination of the three political thoughts
can well be formulated to form in to a strong
methodology of political strategy in present day
environments. This will help any government to
have an effective control over his rivals and
the population as a whole as a democratic government
with strong public support. (Curtis, Michael.
4th ed)
References
" Machiavelli, Niccolò.
1992 . The Prince. New York: W.W. Norton & Co.,
" Musashi. 1958-61. "A Private Book of
War History"
" Curtis, Michael, and others Introduction
to Comparative Government 4th ed. Addison
Wesley Longman. 1996. Textbook that examines the
political systems of Developed countries, emerging
democracies, and developing nations.
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