In his book, Matthews explains the importance of having knowledge of alliances, enemies, deals, and reputations as these are important factors when it comes to being successful in the game known as politics. According to Matthews, alliances are extremely important in politics. He describes how important networking, allowing society to know you personally, allowing other people to do favors for you, and loyalty are in politics. As Matthews says, “It’s not
Machiavelli’s virtue can also be understood as the manipulation of virtue and vice in order to achieve desired political effects. Although usually viewed differently by others, The Prince suggests that virtue and vice is not good and evil or black and white, but rather interchangeable shades of grey, therefore, Machiavelli’s idea of virtue is not of moral character, but of what is best for the preservation of the country. In Chapter 8 the idea is presented that the use of force can be considered virtuous if used in a proper manner. One can almost see The Prince as being a promoter of violence, as long as it justifies the end to a mean. This idea is further stressed in Chapter 14 when passion for the art of warfare is said to be “the only art awaiting one who commands” (p 88).
Power is a prime instigator of conflict. In the words of Burmese democracy activist, Aung San Suu Kyi, “It is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it.” When power is at stake in conflict, fear may have an impact on those who hold power, those who lose power and those who are subject to power. Yet, when faced with overwhelming conflict, some may find, as Vaclav Havel puts it “the power of the powerless” and through conflict individuals may find they have the strength to stand up for justice and peace. When those in power face challenges to their rule, conflict may force them to commit horrific acts of cruelty and repression.
Discuss the meaning of the term balancing conflicting interests. Critically analyse the extent to which the law does balance conflicting interests and discuss any difficulties it faces in doing so? First we must discuss the theorists and what they thought the law did about conflicting interests and whether the law is able to balance these or not. Firstly Karl Marx said that the law was made for the benefit of those who own the capital to ensure the continued oppression of the workers. Therefore the law did not resolve conflicting interests but imposed the interests of one group over another.
Thucydides’ work, however, was not simply a book written about Athens as the protagonist which was defeated by its foolish over-ambition, he wrote about the Athenians and Spartans with similar objectivity, acknowledging both their weaknesses and virtues. Thucydides regularly demonstrated a “determination to establish what happened and why”. He believed one of the primary reasons for the decline of Athens was because of the political problems with democracy and selfish imperialism. Whilst he used facts to support this belief, he expressed it most directly when quoting speeches. I will examine the purpose of Thucydides’ work by assessing his omissions, the events he chooses to focus on more closely, and his own analysis of his work.
Do pressure groups strengthen or weaken democracy? It is extremely difficult to reach a conclusion on whether groups are good or otherwise for democracy but it is important to realise how they can be both beneficial and damaging to it. In debating the matter we face the difficulty that the group’s methods, aims and composition vary significantly and so they cannot all be thrown into the same group. So while we make comments on judgements they are only generalised and do not apply to all groups in all circumstances. Government’s aims are always to please the public, or do the best for the state and so these groups clearly show the government what a certain band of people wish to happen.
Pericles skipped over the greater achievements of Athens’ past and indicated that it was a theme too well known by his listeners to dwell upon at that time of misfortune. Instead, he primarily aimed to focus on “the road by which we reached our position, the form of government under which our greatness grew, and the national habits out of which it sprang." The speech was not necessarily a glorification of Athens’ achievements; it was a ritualized formality to the Athenian soldiers that fell during the battle of the Peloponnesian War and used to enlighten the spirits of the state still at war. The Peloponnesian War was fought by the empire of Athens against the Peloponnesian area led by Sparta. The war has been conventionally separated into three
So liberty is constrained to maintain social order as opposed to freedom being epitomized in people as utility maximizers according to liberals. Therefore social order in put in place to provide certainty in an uncertain world. The second strand of imperfection according to Conservativism is moral as immoral or criminal behavior is deep-rooted in the individual. There is a ‘power after power’ conception according to Hobbes with human beings drive consisting of physical prosperity, power and avoidance of deprivation and doing anything they can to maintain or maximize these basic appetites so people cannot be trusted and crime is based on the consequence of human instincts. So it leads to the idea of people behaving in a civilized way if they are deterred by a firm government putting a tough criminal justice system so there is an invisible amalgamation of law and order with the role of law preserving order and morality.
The ambiguous concept of civil engagement can be referred to attitudinal or behavioural orientations to politics. These are important in understanding the likely prospects of political participation as the relationship between the individual and their power of influence is vital in this case. In addition, some people wont be well educated so there vote would be a frivolous decision therefore as a result they feel that there is no point in turning up. Furthermore, when an election will not affect the society such as an election
* Having control of the past allows the government to have control of the future. * The future is a direct consequence of the past. * The party will feed them lies about the past, to gain more support for their political agenda by portraying the past in a negative light. * Limiting memory, to limit knowledge of the past. * Makes control of people easier, as they will be more like to support the Party if they think the party has brought positive changes.