One of the most renowned ideas from Machiavelli’s ‘The Prince’ is the question of is it better for a prince to be feared or loved, and the answer is both but, if you cannot be both then it is better to be feared because your subjects are kept submissive in fear that they will be punished. However, there are many other great ideas that most people tend to overlook because of that most famous one. One example is the idea of being born in the right time and the right place. Machiavelli explains that in “examining their life and deeds it will be seen that they owed nothing to fortune but the opportunity which gave them matter to be shaped into what form they saw fit; and without that opportunity their powers would have been wasted, and without their powers the opportunity would have come in vain” (pg. 104).
In previous classes, we have discussed whether a leader is born or made and in Machiavelli’s case he claims that they are made through the circumstances in their lives. He uses the example of Romulus and that he needed to be exiled from Alba and all the other succeeding events to happen in order to eventually become the king of Rome. In class, we used the example of MLK being born at the right time. If MLK wasn’t born during segregation and exposed to discrimination, who know if he would have become as big of a historical figure as he is now, especially since he was such a reluctant leader in the first place. I believe that leaders can be both born and made, yet there has to be a combination of the two. There are some qualities that people are born with that help them become leaders, like charisma and extroversion. However, some skills people can be taught and can work on them during their life, like public speaking skills and communication.
I agree that there are some points Machiavelli makes that are overlooked by others however I think the situational point is one of the most important takeaways that we can apply to our idea of modern day leadership. At least in the US where power and leadership are gained through a democratic voting process there is more situational determination in the US. In times of economic crisis, people are more likely to elect a leader who can lead them out of it. People are more likely to elect a leader who has better ideas with how to deal with what the country is dealing with at that time rather than if they are afraid of them or love them.