The “economy of violence” developed on The Prince

Student ID 800289612 - Laura Ruiz Oltra

Machiavelli's The Prince has been described as an attempt to develop an "economy of violence." What
does this phrase mean as a description of the argument of The Prince and how does this "economy"
function? In making your argument, you may choose to concentrate on one example from The Prince.
Your answer should be presented in essay form, with a short thesis paragraph that clearly outlines your
argument. The prompt is asking not for your opinion but rather a wellreasoned response to The Prince.
Your essay is an engagement with the text. Develop your own argument by interrogating, questioning,
contrasting, agreeing with, and arguing against the text. This will mean extensive quotation and citation
accompanied by your analysis.

At present, someone is said to be machiavellian as a synonymous of being a two-faced

and cruel person that won’t mind using his or her influence and power to get whatever he or
she wants, no matter who he or se has to deceive or abuse doing that. But that is far from the
actual reality of Niccolo Machiavelli’s personality. This current connotation of the word
“machiavellian” can lead people to think that power and violence would be used (or
recommended to be used) by Machiavelli whenever it was necessary to take one step further
towards his goal. On the contrary, my thesis is that Machiavelli would opt for administrating
appropriate dosages of violence, just when necessary, “because the indiscriminate exercise of
force and the constant revival of fear could provoke the greatest of all political dangers for any
government, the widespread kind of apprehension and hatred which drives men to
desperation.” (Ch. IX)

This is why I state that Machiavelli was talking about developing “an economy of
violence”, which has two meanings: first, that there is a “scientific” way to use violence, as is
the law of the supply and demand, controlling the dosage of fear and violence; and second, that
there is a need to economise in violence, as the overuse of it may lead to damaging his virtù
and to hatred, which is counterproductive for him.
“I come to the conclusion that, men loving according to their own will and fearing
according to that of the prince, a wise prince should establish himself on that which is in
his own control and not in that of others; he must endeavour only to avoid hatred, as is
noted.” (Ch. XVII) Reading this extract of The Prince it is clear that there is a
misunderstanding of Machiavelli’s words in the present term “Machiavellian”. Machiavelli
lists in chapter XV of The Prince a series of characteristics a Prince should have to augment
his possibilities of obtaining and maintining power. They can be summed up in “virtù”. A
prince should try to be loved for his personality, but feared for his state of Prince; but also not
as feared as to be dispised, because hatred leads to more dangers, as more people agreeing in
taking you out of your position, and also more potential princes wanting to challenge you, as
thay knw they will be supported by a reasonable amount of people.

Basically, war (or conflicts) are the main exe of The Prince, being Machiavelli most
concerned about how to reach and maintain power as a Prince. Violence is obviously taken by
Machiavelli as the tool to control power: the one that has the legitimate use of violence has the
power. This can be easily seen whenever he talks about the importnce of being prepared for
war, and more obviously when he talks about the army. But the most important point I want to
make here is that, as I statted before, Machiavelli was an advocate of using force just in a
reasonable manner: being hated is the easiest way to lose your power, so it makes no sense to
overuse your force, as you only use it to maintaining it.