Applying Machiavelli to the Internet Age (La Stampa,
Italy)
"If you have the patience to reread the treatise of the Florentine
theorist and diplomat, you will be impressed by how, in light of its perspective
on power, interests, influence, and strategy, nothing has changed since the
turbulent days of Courts and Principates. Obama against
Putin, Xi Jinping against Japanese Prime Minister Abe,
Moscow-Beijing joint naval maneuvers: the entirety of our age continues to be
framed by power as judged by the lion and the fox ... That is, except for social media and the Web."
A 16th century bust of perhaps the greatest political theoretician that ever lived, Niccolo Machiavelli. The bust is thought to have been modeled on his death mask, which were made for Italians of high birth and station. The Prince, Machiavelli's master work, was published in 1515.
This
year marks the 500th anniversary of the publication of one of the masterpieces
of world literature, Machiavelli's The Prince, a work that
rivals Dante's TheDivine Comedy in terms of translations
from our language. If you have the patience to reread the treatise of the Florentine
theorist and diplomat, you will be impressed by how, in light of its perspective
on power, interests, influence, and strategy, nothing has changed since the
turbulent days of Courts and Principates. Obama against
Putin, Xi Jinping against Japanese Prime Minister Abe,
Moscow-Beijing joint naval maneuvers, the Marines arriving in Australia: the
entirety of our age continues to be framed by power as judged by the lion and
the fox, concerned about how to be or appear, how to induce fear, or how to court
adoration.
That
is, except for social media and the Web. The era of personal media subjects those
who rule to a kaleidoscope of information, control, debate, and transparency. If
the relatives of dissident Kazakh
Muktar Ablyazov had been deported from Italy back to their home country
during times of the ancient diplomacy and ancient power, according to the merciless
language of the treatise (this is no defense of it, mind you) so brilliantly
expounded by Machiavelli, none of us would have ever heard of them.
And
this article would never have ended up on the front page of La Stampa. To
suffer in silence and in secret was the toil of the weak, and to impose their
iron will to their heart’s content was the privilege of the strong. The exile, oblivion
and marginalization shared by Dante and Machiavelli, were inflicted solely at
the whim of the Prince. If today, after a campaign of public opinion run by
this newspaper, the government of EnricoLetta, Angelino Alfano and Emma Bonino reverses itself and recognizes the incongruity of
entrusting defenseless refugees to their potential persecutors, it will be due - in addition to their
own human sensitivity -
to the moral power of public opinion disseminated on the Web.
[Editor's
Note: Despite massive social media pressure, the wife and child of Kazakh opposition politician and businessman
Muktar
Ablyazov were "illegally" deported, which has created a firestorm
in Italy, particularly within the Interior Ministry, which claims to have known
nothing about the amazingly quick deportation. Critics charge that Italian
officials are trying to cozy up to gas-rich Kazakhstan and its authoritarian
regime. Ultimately, Italian Prime Minister EnricoLetta retracted the deportation, and has offered the
two the opportunity to return. See video below].
In
another age, bureaucratic rulings could be applied unnoticed. Perhaps by following
the law and protocols to the letter, expulsion might yet be imposed. But the Web
turns the ancient motto “supreme justice,
supreme injustice [Summum ius summa iniuria]” into
a moral law stronger than any written one. Enforcing a law that results in
injustice may save face for a bureaucrat, but today before so many citizens
with smartphones and Internet connections, such an official
can no longer be defended. Italian Ambassador to Washington Claudio Bisogniero asked White House and State Department
officials, and U.S. educators, to host discussions about “cyber-diplomacy”
between the U.S. and Europe, and the result was surprising: the consensus is
that the Web has forever changed relations between states [view video below].
To
tyrants of powers large and small, this is a threat that in the long run could prove
fatal. For leaders in democracies, it is both a constraint and an opportunity.
In the short run, it forces them to evaluate issues under pressure, such as
those that will ultimately be made in the case of the Ablyazov family. In the
long run, however, it acts as a kind of thermometer for measuring the ethical temperature
of the country, offering governments, thanks to the Web, an intense and
continuous dialogue with the people. The ability to self-correct and allow free
debate are the real strengths of democracy when compared to authoritarian
regimes, which are obliged to be molded forever by the absolute will of an unchallenged
leader, blind to their errors.
Of
course, there are no political antibiotics that erase all evil, and soon
leaders, studying the evolution of "Big Data" on the Web, will manage
to manipulate and guide discussion in their countries. But at their core,
today, these systems have a chance of achieving truly “open
societies,” as philosopher Karl Popper envisioned,
something that only a generation ago would have been delusional.
Posted By Worldmeets.US
So
the Letta government has done well by pulling back from
an unpleasant decision, and it was a good thing that so many people have worked
online toward a positive outcome. It will be even better if, in the future, Italy manages to avoid such incidents by
assuming a role as a country friendly to political dissidents and open to
receiving exiles. As the textbooks remind us, that is the tradition of our Risorgimento [the modern
unification of Italy].
As
for Machiavelli, if he were to come back to life today to celebrate the half millennia
anniversary of his masterpiece, he wouldn’t hesitate to write a chapter on the Internet,
describing in exquisite prose how the Prince should govern the Web like a lion,
and how his digital rivals should fight the Internet lion like the fox.
