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Western Political Thought

Notes provide such remedies against future evils as their predecessors did, but (if there be
no precedent) to strike out new ones on the basis of existing analogies. But since
considerations of this kind are too often neglected or little understood, or are beyond
the knowledge of those men who govern states, it comes to pass that the same evils
and inconveniences take place in all ages of history.
Furthermore, he asserted firmly and categorically that:
Wise men say (perhaps not unjustly) that in order to form an impression of what is yet
to come, we ought to consider what is already passed; for there is nothing in this
world at present, or at any other time, but has and will have its counterpart in antiquity;
which happens because these things are operated by human beings who, having the
same passions in all ages, must necessarily behave uniformly in similar situations.
Machiavelli, like the other Renaissance thinkers, could not visualize that civilization could
continually and constantly evolve with new ideas and perceptions. Believing in the idea of a
closed culture, Greece and Rome remained the reference point that humans were to go back to
(Butterfield 1962: 40). They did not have the idea of progress as understood by the thinkers of the
French Enlightenment in the eighteenth century.
Republican Politics and Notion of Liberty
Machiavelli distinguished between republics and princedoms, free and unfree states. Free states
were those “which are far from all external servitude, and are able to govern themselves according
to their own will”. A republic was superior to a princedom, which however did not suit all people,
except those who were highly public-spirited. Machiavelli’s admiration for the ancient Romans
was essentially because they had a republican form of government under which they “had achieved
unexampled greatness and power”. None of its rulers had inherited the throne. He admired the
Romans for their zeal for freedom and devotion, patriotism and love for their country, which was
possible only under a republican government.
In the opening passage of the Discourses, Machiavelli described the growth of freedom in ancient
Rome and argued that those who had displayed prudence in constituting a republic had looked
upon the safeguarding of liberty as one of the most essential things for which they had to provide.
The primary task of a legislator was to enact laws that would guarantee and safeguard liberty. Rome
could achieve greatness because of its continual efforts at introducing new institutions that made
liberty possible. Machiavelli’s adulation of Rome stood in stark contrast to the criticism of Hegel.
The three books of the Discourses were devoted to the exploration of the theme of liberty. The first
showed how Rome achieved greatness through republican liberty by getting rid of its kings. The
second depicted the progressive expansion of Rome as a military power, and its ability to fulfil the
liberty of its people. The third spoke about the efforts of particular men in Rome who had contributed
to the continuation of political liberty.
Freedom, to Machiavelli, produced not only powerful states but also strong individuals, whose
strength was not in dominating or influencing others but in the independence of spirit, in their
ability to think and decide for themselves. By liberty, he meant independence from external
aggression and internal tyranny, implying the right of people to be able to govern. Freedom was
the effective exercise of political rights that was possible among public-spirited and self-respecting
individuals. Only a patriotic people could be truly and genuinely free. Conversely, a corrupt
people possibly could not maintain liberty. For Machiavelli:
the justification of law is nothing to do with the protection of individual rights, a
concept that makes no appearance in the Discorsi at all. The main justification for its
exercise is that, by coercing people into acting in such a way as to uphold the institutions
of a free state, the law creates and preserves a degree of individual liberty which, in its
absence would promptly collapse into absolute servitude.

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