Western Political thought: Machiavelli

Nicollo Machiavelli is one of the governmental thinkers that have contributed immensely to the developing of the governmental position. However, his thoughts and principles were a radical departure from those of his contemporaries. One of the political thoughts that were contrary from that of the past thinkers was on the morality of power. According to him morals cannot be apply to judge the legitimate and illegitimate application of power. He claims that power and power ar equal variables and anyone that has power gains the right to give commands.He claimed that universe good does not give one a moral agency and goodness does not give power to anyone. This view conflicts with the moralistic political system that associated morality with authority (Nelson, 1995). Machiavelli criticizes the moralistic concept of authority adage that it does not add any value to power. The other political thought that was distant from the past thinkers was on the subject of law and force. M achiavelli first concord with the past thinkers saying that good laws are important for an orderly political system.However he claimed that good people do not similar following laws which means that for the good laws to work, there must be coercion. He wanted to imply that good laws have their legitimacy founded on the use of force. This thought appeared to be cruel, but in reality, laws cannot be legitimate if they are not accompanied by coercive force (Sydney, 2005). The last extreme point thought by Machiavelli was on his treatment of politics. In opposition to the explanation of the past thinkers who saw politics pragmatically.Machiavelli dismissed politics and an entity that could only be seen from the supremacy of powers that are coercive. The authority in politics according to him cannot comprise independently and politics is all about gaining supremacy for personal interests (Nelson, 1995). though Machiavellian political thoughts were different from those of the past th inkers, modern political theory is based on Machiavellian principles and thoughts. His eccentric thoughts have provided a debut for the modern political theory.