Few are likely to have a solid understanding of political affairs today without a thorough understanding of our debt to the prominent, fifteenth-century Italian political thinker, Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527). The revelations unveiled by this brilliant Florentine diplomat in his disquisitions on realpolitik in his book The Prince (Il Principe) caused a furor in his day because of his honest, accurate, and comprehensive treatment of the subject of politics and propaganda and his analysis of political intrigue during the centuries preceding him. The term realpolitik, "the pursuit of national interests by leaders without regard for ethical or philosophical considerations" probably originated in Machiavelli's analysis of the use of political power, but is German and of later origin. After the advent of Christianity, morality had a strong influence on political thinking, and this continued for the next fifteen hundred years. This caused politics to be considered a moral as well as a worldly practice. However, with the rise of various institutions, society underwent changes. Political authority became increasingly secularized both within and....
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