Starting from the Biography

To understand the political views of Machiavelli, I would like to intensify the significance of knowing the
contemporary situation of the then Italy more precisely the Florence.

During the middle age political behavior was to be judged on the basis of its conformity to principle of
traditional Christian Morality. All the theorist of that time remained firmly committed to an ideal justice
in political relationship which had its origin in Greek, Roman and Christian source.

Machiavelli was the first thinker who took an unequivocal stand in regard to the relationshipbetween
religion, morality and virtue on the one hand and politics on the other which was scrupulously adopted
Aristotelian method

Aristotle held the view that the “qualities which deserve admiration in a prince may be different from
those which deserve admiration in a private life.

His early impressions of politics were influenced by war, intrigues, conspiracies and double-dealing
characteristics of many of the political leaders.

Machiavelli never considered himself as philosopher nor his credentials suggested that he sets
comfortably into the standard model of academic philosophy.

Political Ideas of Machiavelli:

Democracy, liberalism, people’s rights etc. had very little importance to him. Only an absolute monarchy
was the need of the day. A united Italy was badly needed and a prince with enormous power at his
disposal could achieve it. Like other

Italians Machiavelli held the church responsible for the miserable condition of Italy .Italy of his time was
weak politically and militarily. She was cornered in European politics. This ignoble position of Italy
pained Machiavelli and he decided that Italy must be saved at any cost. Installation of an absolute
power was the only solution. So we hold the view that the prevailing situation forced Machiavelli to
strongly argue for a strong monarchy.

This some people call Machiavellian .By calling an action Machiavellian we mean that it is selfish,

cunning and without any moral justification

Reason of the state

of the state. It would never be regarded prudence on the part of the prince if he sacrifices the interest of
the republic at the altar of honesty and religion. This is regarded as "the reason of the state".

The fact is that the central concept of Machiavelli’s political philosophy is the power of the state and,
without power, the state is almost nothing. Studying history he formed the conclusion that only power
can save Italy.

A true prince must accumulate physical power by any means and apply it for the sake of the state. In the

Discourses he said: “A prince must build on sound foundation; otherwise he is bound to come to grief.
The main foundations of every state are good laws and good arms” From history Machiavelli collected
numerous instances why a very powerful state is needed .He emphasized on arms and power Since he
had a thorough knowledge about human nature and in order to fight human beings of this nature a
prince must have enormous power.

Power Politics
Machiavelli sees politics as a battle, a constant struggle for power. All politics, in his sense, are power
politics.

In the theory of power politics there is no place of honesty and scruples. The sole aim of the prince or
ruler of the state would be to achieve the interest of the state as well as to make the state powerful it
can fight any ill-design of another state.

In The "Prince" Machiavelli has elaborately discussed the concept of power: “There are two ways of
fighting: by law or by force. The first way is natural to men, and the second to beasts. But as the first
way often proves inadequate one must needs have recourse to the second.

Self- Sufficient state

The word self-sufficient is really a comprehensive term. But to Machiavelli it had a definite connotation.
In order to be self-sufficient a state first of all must be powerful so that it can defeat the ill-motives of
foreign states.

After a state has achieved self-sufficiency in power (especially military power) it can land on other
activities.

The military power is at the top of all considerations.

Despotism
Renaissance, Luther, Calvin and Machiavelli are almost contemporary. Both demoracy and individualism
are the products of the Renaissance. But simultaneously despotism emerged along with them.

Out of democracy, individualism and despotism, only despotism was able to draw special attention of
Machiavelli.in his judgment only a "despotic ruler" could save Italy from the despicable condition. He
was quite acquainted with various forms of government including democracy or republicanism. But, he
preferred 'dictatorship' or 'despotism' as the most suitable form of government. Here we can note that
Machiavelli’s state was mainly a military state, it is not liberal or democratic state. He was not interested
in democracy at all.

Autonomy of Politics
. He strongly advocated a separation between politics and religion and without this separation the state
could not reach its goal. Machiavelli was not against morality, religion, ethics etc. Rather, he was
indifferent. That is, he adopted an indifferent stand or attitude towards these. The reason suggested by
Machiavelli is that the supreme objective of the prince is

to achieve success in political fields: Religion, morality and ethics should not be allowed to stand on the
way

of success. By recommending the above Machiavelli clearly indicated the separation between politics
and religion. This

may also be called the “Autonomy of Politics”, which implies that the politics has an exclusively different

world. This is called secularism of politics or secularization of politics. Today we frequently talk about
secular state. But, my dearly beloved, it is to be remembered that several centuries ago Machiavelli, the
son of Florence, laid the foundation of such a state.”

Nation State
Some interpreters of Machiavelli’s political thought are of opinion that he had an idea of nation-state.
He wanted to demarcate the boundary of each state to ensure the proper administration and
jurisdiction. Machiavelli perceived the advantage to a government of having subjects similar in language,
customs and habits of life, is quite clear.” In the last chapter of The Prince he had suggested that all the
foreigners were to be ordered to leave Italy. He had an apprehension that the foreigners were
responsible for the present condition of Italy.

Machiavellism
Machiavelli’s concept of state or his philosophy is closely connected with his notion of omnipotent
legislator. His conviction was that an absolute monarchy would be the best possible form of government
.He makes the following observation in Discourses:

“But we must assume, as a general rule, that it never or rarely happens that a republic or monarchy is
wellconstituted, or its old institutions entirely reformed, unless it is done by only one individual.
“Machiavelli received the importance of law from Greek political thought. The idea of an able and
powerful administrator was quite active in his mind which is an interesting aspect of Machiavelli’s
political thought that is popularly known as "Machiavellism"

Conclusion
If we judge Machiavelli in a conventional way it will be found that he was guilty—guilty in the sense that
he advised prince and politician to ignore morality and ethics. But he is to be judged in the background
of his time and if we do this our conclusion will be of different nature. Not only the method and
substance of his philosophy but also the marvelous literary art with which it was expressed served to
win for its universal attention”