Machiavelli's Once Argentina

Imagining Argentina is a novel written by Lawrence Thornton, which is set in the era of the late 1970s of Argentina, during the dirty war. The dirty war came into effect when a military junta had taken power by force, shortly after the former president was removed. The main cause of the dirty war was to suppress the people of Argentina who are on the side of left wing politically. Anyone suspected or even related to the side of left-wing would have a green falcon visit their home or wherever they are, and will be kidnapped and tortured, becoming known to the people as the “disappeared”. Although thousands of Argentinians have disappeared through the years of the dirty war, their identity has not disappeared, through the power a name holds. Carlos Rueda, the protagonist, believes names to be much more than just a name. A name holds a person's uniqueness; their personality; their identity; and their story. Carlos is gifted with an imagination, which can predict the fate of the “disappeared” through the power these names hold. Although identity is a key theme, the overall message revolves around imagination. Throughout Imagining Argentina the use of imagination is always present. Thornton provides a powerful message which is imagination being our strongest tool; our reality. Imagination helps us through times of desperation and despair. The human mind is stronger than any physical force. Our power to imagine helps us stay strong, it helps us identify as humans. Imagination

Critical strengths are capabilities considered essential for accomplishing an objective. Argentina had several critical strengths that would serve her advantage (Vego, 2007). First off, Argentina had a moral and legal claim to the Falkland Islands (Laver, 2001, pp. 66-71). Three hundred miles off the coast of Argentina and 8000 miles from England, the Islands had been successively occupied by various colonial powers since they were first settled in 1764. The island had been under British sovereignty since the Argentinean governor was evicted in 1833. In 1960 the UN passed a declaration stating all former colonies should be allowed independence and self-determination. However, the inhabitants of the Falklands did not desire independence. With a mostly British ancestry, the citizens were content on maintaining colonial status. In 1965, the UN invited Argentina and Great Britain to resolve the issue politically (Laver, 2001, p. 100). Despite several aborted attempts to resolve the issue in the international courts, no

One of the hypotheses is that the United States is unfit to rule foreign lands. This hypothesis is drawn from the text without being blatantly stated. The reader can extract this hypothesis by looking at the examples of countries that the United States has tried to take over. For example, in the Central American countries of Honduras and Nicaragua, the United States overthrew leaders who could have lead the states to social reform. Instead, the states are now

Since the early 1800’s the history of the world has been greatly influenced by the young nation of the United States of America. One of the earliest forms of this influence came on Dec. 2, 1823 in President James Monroe’s annual message to congress. In his address, he outlined his beliefs on keeping European powers out of Latin America for the good of the US. This section of his speech became known as The Monroe Doctrine. About 80 years later, President Theodore Roosevelt built on top of the ideas in the Monroe Doctrine in his address to congress on Dec. 6, 1904. This is known as The Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine, in which he describes his intentions of keeping the sovereignty of Latin American nations by force if necessary. Although Roosevelt directly links his ideas to the Monroe Doctrine, along with its similarities it also has a few key differences.

By the 1960s, the territory had all but outlived its commercial and strategic usefulness; its defence was financially untenable; and they caused a tremendous strain on British-Argentine relations. Relinquishing this imperial hangover to the nation that so passionately demanded its sovereignty seemed a perfect solution and, indeed, successive British governments have indicated a willingness to oblige (Jenkins, 2007). The difficulty, however, was that this most obvious of remedies has always contravened the expressed wishes of the local population, who consider themselves wholly British. This clash of interests hatched a string of dilatory and rather confused policy initiatives, on the one hand assuring British rule to the Islanders whilst, at the same time, discussing a future transfer of sovereignty with Argentina (Sharp, 1999). Hence, by the time Thatcher came to power in 1979, Argentina’s patience had worn thin, indeed, its national press were signalling dire consequences for Britain’s continued filibustering. To break this uneasy deadlock, Thatcher’s new Foreign Secretary, Lord Carrington, proposed a compromise termed ‘leaseback’, which asserted Britain would concede sovereignty to Argentina on the condition that a British administration then be permitted to govern the Islands – hence protecting the lifestyles and freedoms of the local inhabitants (Freedman, 1988). With Thatcher’s government appearing prepared to relinquish the leftovers of empire – recently

After the war, the main priority for Britain was the reconstruction where it turned out to be quicker than expected. As we saw the history of the dispute, US interests were in favor of Britain when both Presidents Andrew Jackson and Ronald Reagan declared Argentina’s actions as unlawful. However according to the public, it seems that the Obama Administration have changed

The situation that Argentina and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland are living

Niccolo Machiavelli stressed that “one ought to be both feared and loved, but as it is difficult for the two to go together, it is much safer to be feared than loved…for love is held by a chain of obligation which, men being selfish, is broken whenever it serves their purpose; but fear is maintained by a dread of punishment which never fails.” He felt that a true leader must be cunning and deceptive, winning the hearts of his people through power and influence. If he could not be liked, he could at least get by knowing he has intimidated these below him into submission. However rash or cruel this may seem, Machiavelli’s argument is not one to be countered easily.

The British government should consider the attacks on British companies in Soreno as criminal acts of violence. This should be followed by condemnation of any violence against any British entity and state resolve to end the conflict. However, we should also explain that given the complex political situation in Soreno, it would be unwise to commit British lives to a foreign and uncertain conflict, especially it aggravates Soreno’s opposition and motivate further attacks on British targets. The conflict should also be presented as a benign movement fighting in the interests of democracy and social justice. The small number of British troops deployed in Soreno will only be for the guarantee of peace in facilitation of the negotiation process and the protection of British citizens and companies. This will be argued to the public as necessary in order to resolve the root of the issue, prevent further attacks both by Liberty and Honor and One Way and prevent a spread of extremist ideology which may inspire further inspired attacks to undermine British society. The political narrative should also point out that One Way represent a narrow sect of Supreme fuelled by domestic grievances, and that British efforts are to ensure equitable settlements in the dispute and

Nowadays, it is politically impossible to commit to paper a "training guide" for leaders. There are innumerable detractors to any possible stance or strategy a leader might adopt. As a result of this, all "training" must take place behind closed doors, far from the prying eyes and ears of the news media or the public. But this has not always been the case.

He states that when attacked, a prince has to be prepared to defend and should never be afraid to defend his territory or people he believes. In the last chapter he explains how to take Italy and staying on the line between luck and God saying that leaders must adapt to the times in which they live, to stay in power longer. The book portrays Machiavelli’s experience in the analysis of governance structures, giving the Prince Lorenzo de 'Medici a way to stay

In secular democracies, power is necessarily derived from the will of the governed. That power is then entrusted to a leader, who Machiavelli would understand to be a "prince". Inherently, his book, The Prince, has been close at hand for most politicians for centuries, as it provides general, historically proven advice for principalities and republics on how to govern and maintain relations with their most important resource and the very core of their power, which would be the people themselves.

The Falklands conflict began on Friday, 02 April 1982, when roughly 500 Argentinean special forces landed at Mullet Creek on East Falkland Island. Under Operation Rosario, Argentina advanced on the Government House at Port Stanley against an unorganized garrison of British Royal Marines stationed on the island. Little opposition was encountered and the Argentinean Junta quickly assumed control. On the same day, Brigadier General Mario Menendez was appointed governor of the islands and Port Stanley was immediately renamed Puerto Argentino. Argentina expected at this point that the British would cede sovereignty over the islands through negotiations and with little or no armed conflict. Argentina had been claiming the

Relying on the needs of the society of that time, Machiavelli comes to the conclusion that the most important task is the formation of a single Italian state (Machiavelli 15). Developing his thoughts, the author comes to the following inference: only a prince can become a leader capable of leading people and building a unified state. It is not a concrete historical personality but someone abstract, symbolic, possessing such qualities that in the aggregate are inaccessible to any living ruler. That is why Machiavelli devotes most of his research to the issue of what qualities should the prince possess to fulfill the historical task of developing a new state. The written work is constructed strictly logically and objectively. Even though the image of an ideal prince is abstract, Machiavelli argues that he should be ruthless, deceiving, and selfish.

However, that said, some of his ideas continue to attract philosophical engagements even by the so-called first rank philosophers. This qualifies the incorporation of some of his ideologies into any comprehensive philosophical survey. This paper therefore zeros in on his political ideals that have culminated into what is known as Machiavelli’s political philosophy of ‘Machiavellism’ (Meinecke, 1965). The paper seeks to explore his political ideologies in general. Further, the paper seeks to establish based on any real evidence whether Machiavelli is indeed a ‘break’ in the political philosophy or otherwise. In keeping with the latter