Machiavelli\'s Famous Pronouncement That it

¶ … Machiavelli's famous pronouncement that it is better for a ruler to be feared than loved. Agree or disagree? Use specific examples to support your point.

Despite Machiavelli's assertion, most of the great leaders of the recent and long past were intensely loved by and popular amongst those whom they led. Abraham Lincoln was firm and principled in his belief that the Union must be upheld, but he never acted out of cruelty or malice. Franklin Delano Roosevelt used his fireside chats to draw support for his New Deal and made American capitalism more compassionate. The great leaders Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. used pacifism and love to stir up public outrage at the oppression of their peoples. In contrast, rulers who use their position simply to bolster their authority, ignore the rule of law, and make themselves feared like Richard Nixon and Dick Cheney are reviled. Even in school, teachers who rule by fear usually encourage their students to covertly circumvent the rules out of anger, while teachers who give 110% inspire students to try hard, and to live up to their high expectations.

Part 2

Find one of Machiavelli's points and show how it could be used in any contemporary setting -- not just world or national leaders, but classroom, workplace, or house leaders as well. Do the principles apply just as well across different leadership scenarios? Be specific in your examples

In Chapter III, on acquiring mixed principalities, Machiavelli states: "although one may be very strong in armed forces, yet in entering a province one has always need of the goodwill of the natives." This can clearly be seen in examples such as Vietnam and Iraq, when a misunderstanding of the native culture caused hostility between America and the people America was ostensibly trying to 'save' or to 'liberate.' Frustrated with colonial control, the Vietnamese saw the Viet Cong as liberators, and the Iraqis did not universally embrace democracy as a pure and cleansing force that would annihilate their old, ethnic and religious civil rivalries. Even in work or school, a new leader must understand the assumptions and needs of the people whom he or she is trying to command, especially if the people have a strong sense of culture -- a new principal cannot suddenly demand that students wear uniforms in a progressive school and expect agreement, a new CEO cannot suddenly demand employees used to a free, Google-like culture punch time clocks and be rendered 'accountable' for every hour of their day. Even a new stepparent cannot use his or her authority to impose new rules without sensitivity to their stepchildren's already secure sense of identity.