Strategists Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Strategists - Essay Example (7-8) Machiavelli, meanwhile, introduced the concept of the â€Å"just war† in his exhortation on Italians to recapture their own land: â€Å"You have justice on your side; for war is just which is necessary and it is piety to fight where no hope is left in anything else.† (cited in McAlpine 2000, 6) For these two philosophers war or preparedness to engage in it is fundamental for the survival of a state. In regard to military strategy, Sun Tzu captures something of the sense of Machiavelli’s last words in the Prince when he stressed the importance of a positive attitude and the goodness of opportunity – seizing the occasion to put something right, to make a person, place or thing better. According to Sun Tzu, one who foresees victory before a battle will most probably win and that, one who predicts not much of a chance of winning before the fight, will most probably not win. This principle of unashamed act of winning is supported by this text of The Art of War: â€Å"If fighting is sure to result in victory, then you must fight, even though the ruler forbids it; if fighting will not result in victory, then you must not fight even at the ruler’s bidding.† (158) Machiavelli’s assertion that men have evil in them as well as good is an important factor when considering his perspectives on leadership. This is highlighted in his discourse of what characterize the ideal prince. Machiavelli believed that a prince as a leader needed above all to pursue virtue, but not the one in the traditional sense. Machiavelli often told the reader that qualities traditionally called virtuous in the Christian or feudal senses were not virtuous at all in a prince. For Machiavelli, a prince who truly understand virtue – in the sense of the qualities needed to perpetuate his state and his own power – would prefer ‘vice’ of meanness, say to the virtue of