POLB80H3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Niccolò Machiavelli, Siege Of Melos, World Politics
21 Aug 2013
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How humans have made sense of world politics. Athenian general in pelopennesian war (431 to 404 b. c. ) Melian dialogue (his account of the ruinous 27-year long struggle (431 404 bc) between the powerful greek city-states of athens and sparta) The strong do what they can while the weak suffer what they must . Says that christian virtues are weak and pagan virtues are silly. States need to be concerned with survival (canada cannot just decide to invade usa for example) The powerful get away with things and avoid laws the way that we cannot (due to the police force) Accept anarchy, power and interest as world politics defining features. Avoids human nature as it is too variable. Survival is not guaranteed = decisions made out of necessity. Survival is such a condition that requires power. This may mean you will get into wars.
