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society. He recommended democracy as the best form of governing a state that is not corrupt and ordered. For him democracy cannot function in a corrupt state because; “where the body of the people is so thoroughly corrupt that they are powerless for restraint; it becomes necessary to establish some superior power which, with a royal hand and with absolute powers may put a curb upon the excessive ambition and corruption of the powerful” 41.
Finally, Machiavelli recommends tyranny for a corrupt state and democracy for a good and peaceful state. Thus, he is both a moral and an amoral political philosopher. Nevertheless, he totally rejected aristocracy, that is, the government of the nobles and rich for it is totally against democracy and their interest is at variance with the interest of the common people.
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In the action of men and especially of princes from which there is no appeal the end justified the means. Let a prince therefore aim at acquiring and maintaining the standard, the means will always be judged honorable and praised by everyone for the vulgaris always taken by appearance.43
resulted from the general conception of man as being selfish and fickle by nature. However, “Machiavelli supplied their want. He painted men as they actually were and not as they pretend to be in realist. And then with a brutal frankness, he explained to them in the only language, which they could understand, how best they might succeed in their savagery”.42 Therefore, he maintains that, the only purpose for a ruler was to make war, and protect her citizens from attacks by other states. The ruler, therefore, is justified in doing whatever is necessary to maintain the country, even if it is unjust irrespective of ethical principle especially when their actions are for the interest of the state. He advised the rulers to possess the public form of morality instead of the private form of morality in order to succeed.
For Machiavelli, the fundamental concern of any ruler should be the acquisition of, retention and expansion of power. Thus,
Consequently, if an action helps in the acquisition and retention of power by the rulers, then it is to be judged morally good. This is because men are ill-tempered and often deceived by shadows and so any ruler who is able to acquire and retain power no matter the means is honoured and praised by men of
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Machiavelli believed in the value of insincerity. He advised the ruler never to be frank. To be good is harmful; but to appear to be good is useful, in order for a ruler to preserve his power and plunder it is often necessary for him to act in opposition to justice, charity, humanity and good faith but his subjects must not be aware of this. They must be fooled into thinking that he is noble, compassionate, pious and just. A ruler should always be vigilant;
study the situation and know when to use moral, immoral, humane or cruel means. In other words, a successful ruler should make his subjects believe that he is protecting them at the very moment when he is crushing them. He admonished rulers to have mercy in their tongues and evil in their hearts. For this reason,
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Machiavelli states; “whenever possible, the leader will of course observe the conventional standards for this will strengthen his popular support, whether in a tyranny, a popular government or mixed regime. Even where he feels compelled to violate conventional belief. He will always strive to give reason for that” 45
It is only a brute for Machiavelli that can succeed as a kind.
Lovers of justice, enemies of injustice, human and kindly rulers come to a bad end. Goodness never pay. A ruler in order to retain the obedience of his subjects and the respect of his soldiers should stifle the man in him and develop the beast. In a similar vein, Machiavelli instructed the ruler to be as ferocious as a lion and as cunning as a fox. For, force is greater than justice and frown more powerful than truth. Equally, the ruler should not bother about keeping his word for nobody does and it is very easy for a ruler to break his promise because men are stupid. So, Machiavelli posits; “He who best known to play the fox has had the best success. If all men were good, this would not be a good advice, but since they are wicked and do not keep faith with them. No prince need ever be at a less for plausible reasons to choak a breach of faith”46
Most considerably, war should be the top most in the agenda of the ruler. For him, a ruler must devote himself exclusively to the art of killing, „for war is the sole art looked for in one who rules‟. Hence a ruler should never allow his attention
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to be diverted from military pursuits. In time of peace, a ruler should always prepare himself for war. As such, his conversation, his studies, his games, his reading and all his most serious reflections should be centered on the one question of how to conquer his fellow men. In the Machiavellian state, all road leads to war. Consequently, to this very day, war is so prevalent because most countries are governed or rather misgoverned, by his disciples and the politicians the world over. A ruler should rely on the strength of his army rather than the strength of his allies.
He should beware of those among his subjects who flatter him, especially among his ministers.
For Machiavelli, one can become a ruler either through his qualities or abilities or by inheritance. It could also be through violence and crime or by election. All these means are justified for him in so far as they help one to gain the political power successfully. Machiavelli combined the traditional, classical, and Christian thought in the purpose of presenting his concept of power. He cautioned rulers not to allow such Christian virtues as patience, forgiveness, meekness, mercy, humanity, self-denial, compassion in his state because these virtues would make his subjects and the state weak. These virtues for him are negative and unproductive. Machiavelli advised that a ruler should rather encourage such virtues as ambition, strength of character, vitality, energy, thirst for power, desire for fame, patriotism,
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ability to achieve one‟s aim no matter how. For him, these are positive virtues that transform men into strong and dynamic men and turn the state into a strong one.