Question

Can you explain to me how leaders such as Hussein, Stalin, and Mussolini could be considered Machiavellian?

Answer 1

Machiavelli wrote The Prince in which he explained his ideas, taking a brutally pragmatic approach to politics in making the argument that oftentimes, force is needed in order to maintain power by eliminating rivals and keeping enemies closer in order to destroy them later. His wasn't a question of whether it was ethically right to do so -- in his view, the only ethics that should concern a ruler were that of how to maintain and hold onto power.

Answer 2

In his book "The Prince" he speaks of how "hard" a leader must be to control the people. It's often attributed to him "the end justify the means" but that was not his total philosophy and may not be in there at all.

Answer 3

Thanks for your input.