Niccolo Machiavelli had witnessed major political turbulence during the Renaissance so his political theory is totally different from that of Aristotle and Plato

Niccolo Machiavelli had witnessed major political turbulence during the Renaissance so his political theory is totally different from that of Aristotle and Plato. He brought new ideas and approaches to the politics and was an important figure in relist theory. His work Prince gave an altogether different notion and understanding as to how the rulers should act and to the rules of politics. Machiavelli believed that the stability and well being of a state is entirely the responsibility of the leader and to achieve it any tactic can be employed. A ruler can be treacherous, deceptive or intriguing. For him ruler’s morality and virtue is not important at all. Machiavelli’s notion of virtue is not like Aristotle’s rather it refers to a range of qualities that a ruler may find necessary and acquire in order to maintain his rule and to achieve great things. It did not matter to him if these are vices or evil traits. He also stated that conspiracy is the essence of entire political life. Machiavelli also advocated the importance of wars. According to him preparing for war should be the first priority of a ruler and a defensive attitude should be adopted in order to prevent others from gaining control.
Different political thinkers have tried to describe the concept of the state of nature and Thomas Hobbes is one of them. Hobbes tried to imagine what life would be like without the presence of any government and came up with a notion called the state of nature. According to him, it is a condition in which people could do whatever they wanted to do and it clearly seems similar to a civil war. It would be a situation of insecurity, violence and life in such a state of nature would be poor, short and cold. According to Hobbes, human beings naturally desire the power to live w and want to obtain more power and behave on the basis of their desires. When there is no absolute power the people in a state remain free to act as they please and this could cause harm and disputes. So the presence of power is necessary to direct people and to bring them together. In my understanding, Hobbes is true in his description of human nature to some extent. We do need an ideal government to keep people united for common interests but I do not agree when Hobbes regards that government sovereign and the people its subjects for the fact that an ideal government is required for the common well being and running of the state but not to completely dictate the people as to how they should act or not.