Political Realism vs. Contractualism: Machiavelli and Hobbes

Machiavelli and the Crisis of Classical Ideal

His position, known as political realism, requires seeing the state as it is and not as it should be. When analyzed from this perspective, the following tenets emerge:

• Men are selfish by nature.
• Human nature is constant and does not change; we observe what men do in the present and what they have done in the past.
• Driven by their own interests, men desire power at any price.
• Politics becomes a science. Its most important finding is that to win and retain political power, one must wisely use terror to control behavior and religion to control consciences.
• Neither religion nor morality legitimizes the state; the state legitimizes itself by force of circumstance.
• The state may seize the property of its subjects whenever required by political necessity. If it refrains from doing so, it will be for strategic reasons, because one cannot govern against everyone all the time.
• There is no harmony between the interests of the state and the citizens. There is no harmony between ethics and politics.

Modern Contractualism

Contractualism attempts to reconcile the clash between the interests of the state and the citizen reported by Machiavelli. It does so through the idea of a covenant: the clash of interests should be resolved peacefully through a social pact. This pact, however, has no historical basis.

Thomas Hobbes: The State of Nature

Thomas Hobbes argued that men are inherently selfish and fearful. Their enormous desire for security leads to the famous phrase, “man is a wolf to man.”

The state of nature is characterized by the idea that everyone is entitled to get what they can for themselves. It is the war of all against all. We can solve this situation through reason, which allows us to:

1. Realize how miserable our state of nature is.
2. Agree to submit to a third party—the monarch—who leads the state (which Hobbes called the civil society).

Characteristics of Hobbes's Civil Society

• Only the monarch can enact laws, and their power is absolute.
• The monarch is not subject to the laws enacted.
• The laws must be few, public, clear, and consistent, and they must be proportional to the crime.
• The head of state is also the head of the church.
• The king must fulfill his functions effectively. However, subjects can topple him if he fails to guarantee their peace and security.