Niccolo Machiavelli's The Prince examines the nature of power and his views
             of power which are still somewhat in existence today. I will discuss and examine what I
             feel to be the most important principals of Machiavelli's theory. Machiavelli stresses
             power over the people, dictatorial power, and power with people (shared power). While
             it is possible to use power to attain greater prevalence in society, there will always be
             people who have power over them. In The Prince, Machiavelli discusses two distinct
             groups of people, the political elite, including nobles and other princes, and the general
             public. Today in the Canada, the first group, the political elite, includes political
             leaders, religious leaders, business leaders and the leaders of strong lobbying groups.
             The composition of the general public has changed little from Machiavelli's time.
             Machiavelli starts the book off explaining the different kinds of states, republics and
             principalities. He then goes on to explain the types of principalities, heredity, mixed, and what he
             calls "new". New principalities are principalities that have just been created and their leaders are
             not hereditary. Mixed principalities are like those of the Pope or the sultan, he explains, for they
             have been established for a long time (like a hereditary principality), but the leadership does not
             pass from father to son (like a new principality).
             Next, Machiavelli explains how to rule the different principalities and what challenges
             are presented to the ruler in each case. He says that hereditary leaders have an easier time than
             new princes because the people are already accustomed to their hereditary leaders and accept
             their power, but a new prince has to work hard to be accepted by his people.
             Machiavelli then explains that it is very important to acquire land in order to expand one's
             rule. There are four ways that he discusses t...