Machiavelli’s memorandum
HALF a millennium ago this year Niccolo Machiavelli, a Florentine diplomat, issued a treatise, “The Prince”, setting out tactics for navigating a landscape not so different from today’s British political scene: the power squabbles within and between the principalities of 16th-century Italy. Then as now, power was fragmenting, making the arts of persuasion, coercion and image-building all the more essential. So Machiavelli’s work fizzes with relevant advice for David Cameron, the prime minister, as he prepares for the Conservative Party’s annual conference starting on September 29th. With 20 months until the next election, how can he keep his Liberal Democrat coalition partners, his MPs, his ministers and the people on side? In this memorandum Machiavelli (channelled by our correspondent) offers his advice
This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “Machiavelli’s memorandum”
From the September 28th 2013 edition
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