POLS 2900 Lecture Notes - Lecture 20: Political Sociology, Tyrant, Elective Monarchy
7 Apr 2014
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Tuesday, november 19 was a religious holiday for some students in the class, so i am posting a summay of my lecture. I left off last time with machiavelli"s advice to the prince concerning whether it is better to be loved or feared by his subjects. If one must choose, he recommends that the prince rely on fear. When it comes to love and fear, the trick for the ruler is to make himself feared without making himself hated. Hatred is dangerous because it may overpower men"s fear of the prince, leading to disobedience. Happily, it turns out to be relatively easy for a ruler to avoid being hated. Machiavelli explains that he need only show respect for his subjects" wives and possessions. Men being what they are, they forget more quickly the death of their father than the loss of their patrimony.
