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Which aspects of Machiavelli's The Prince are applicable in today's world?

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Machiavelli's The Prince remains relevant today in its analysis of political hypocrisy and adaptability. He advises leaders to present a facade of piety while acting pragmatically, a strategy seen in modern leaders who exploit religious support yet act contrary to those values. Additionally, Machiavelli's emphasis on the necessity for leaders to adapt their strategies in response to changing circumstances is applicable in both autocratic and democratic contexts today.

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In The Prince, Machiavelli, in chapter 18, notes that it is to a leader's advantage to present himself as a model of faith and piety, without actually being so. He then alludes, without naming him, to Ferdinand of Spain, saying that this ruler appears devout, but in his actions is in fact the extreme enemy of faith and religion.

Though it may have been justified as a measure strengthening Christianity, the ruthlessness of Ferdinand and Isabella in brutally exiling non-Christians, both Muslim and Jewish, from Spain, in my view, was an instance of extreme hypocrisy. Machiavelli notes in The Prince that even the Jewish converts to Christianity were later despoiled of their property and persecuted.

In our own time, without actually naming leaders, we can find examples of those who have garnered support from the religious among the population, but whose actions and attitudes have been anything but pious....

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Such leaders have stirred up hatred against immigrants and encouraged racial division, while presenting themselves as supporting religion, upholding American values, and promising to appoint judges who will enforce religious strictures such as banning abortion. These leaders are the modern equivalent of the hypocrisy in his own time that Machiavelli pointed out.

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Most of Machiavelli's advice would not apply at all to the modern world because it is aimed at autocratic rulers.  Modern democratic rulers could not gain much by reading this book.  However, there are still rulers in parts of the world who might be helped by the book.  This would be true of the rulers of China, for example, who seem to think that it is better for them to be feared by their subjects than it would be for them to be loved.

There are other, lesser known, parts of Machiavelli's advice that would be applicable even to democracies.  For example, Machiavelli says that leaders should be ready to change their tactics and ideas when needed.  He says that things sometimes happen that make it necessary to abandon preconceived plans.  This is surely just as true today was it was in Machiavelli's time.

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