This essay examines wether the prevailing opinion of Machiavelli as a prominent figure in political realism is correct or if the author is misinterpreted and can be said to represent something more. Thus, the puropse of this essay is to revise the description of Machiavelli given in widely used Swedish textbooks. This is done on the basis of a thesis saying that Machiavelli, judged not by his renowned book ?The Prince? (Fursten), but in the light of his extensive work ?Discourses? (Republiken), does not advocate a sovereign power but rather promote a pluralistic society. The method used in this essay is a qualitative textanalysis, which is done on the two books in purpose to examine three central themes in Machiavelli?s writing; the morality, the view on humanity and the state and citizen.

Studien jämför de råd som Niccolò Machiavelli presenterar i "Fursten" med David Kilcullens handledning "Twenty-Eight articles" avseende en framgångsrik förvaltning av makten i ett insatsområde som präglas av en konflikt med irreguljär prägel. Jämförelsen fokuserar främst på hur lokalbefolkningens stöd erhålls men tar även upp andra aspekter på förvaltarskapet såsom flexibilitet och tillfälligheters inverkan på dess dynamik. Studien är genomförd som en kvalitativ, jämförande textanalys där resultatet påvisar ett flertal likheter mellan de två teoretikernas alster rörandes hur framgång erhålls i en irreguljär konflikt..

Political realism is a general theory within political science focusing on the principle interest defined as power. The theory?s mutual standpoint is that states are inspired by power politics meaning that military and economic power or security stands in the centre while moral and ethics are placed in the periphery. This essay?s purpose is to analyze realism which helps to understand the development and change of the perspective.

Queen Kristina of Sweden (1626-1689) is a person who has been widely studied during the years. She is known as the monarch who left the Swedish throne and the protestant faith in favour of the catholic Rome. Even though Kristina left her powerful position as queen of Sweden she never gave up her dignity as a sovereign.  My purpose with this study is to analyse historians and other scholars different research concerning Kristina?s notorious execution of Monaldesco in 1657.

The capricious roman goddess Fortune is known for her strong power to influence or even decide the destiny of humans. In ancient Rome she was considered to be a good goddess, who brought the gifts of destiny and who also was seen as a possible ally. During the Middle Ages this position changed. Fortune was given two sides, a good and friendly one and a cruel impenetrable side. She was seen as one of God´s ministers and became an expression of divine providence.My purpose with this essay is to analyse three artworks of Fortune by Giovanni Bellini, Albrecht Dürer and Master MZ, but also some texts by the renaissance humanist Niccolò Machiavelli.

War has for all through the years adopted various guises and been performed by various actors for a wide variety of destination. But what is really a war? Why is war fought? How is war fought? By whom is war fought? Machiavelli, Clausewitz, Kaplan, Kaldor, Creveld and Krulak are just a few among others who have made valiant attempts to explain war and its nature. What did they find? This essay maps out their studies in the hope of finding some kind of continuity that can give a clearer picture of what war really is.

In 1513 the Florentine humanists Niccolò Machiavelli composed one of the most famous, but also ambiguously interpret, work in the history of politics, Il Principe. Machiavelli´s book The Prince revealed the true nature of politics in Italy in the beginning of the sixteenth century and gives very straightforward advice on how to act to become a successful and powerful political being. Machiavelli´s creation and insights in the reality of politics have be much discredited and condemned in its lack of moral consideration and violent nature. Still it has been read under the centuries with a fascination and eager to understand the structure of power and how to master it. My purpose with this study is to apply this Machiavellian idea of the capable prince on to the earlier research of the Swedish duke Karl, later on King Karl IX.

This study aims to theoretically investigate the concepts of the interpersonal actions 'to motivate' and 'to manipulate' and also to examine possible differences and similarities between the two. The method used is a conceptual review based on the Self-Determination Theory, related to the concept of motivation, and Machiavellianism, related to the concept of manipu-lation. The results show that 'to motivate', according to Self-Determination Theory, concerns influencing the intrinsic or extrinsic motivation, where intrinsic motivation is related to the feeling of self-determination, inner locus of causality, being or feeling competent and exercise activities for the pleasure of it, whilst extrinsic motivation is related to external locus of cau-sality, external pressure and engaging in activities for the purpose of reaching a goal or re-ward. 'To manipulate' is according to Machiavellianism based on the manipulator doing whatever it takes to reach a certain goal and gain something for himself with no regard of what methods being used. The comparative analysis showed that the crucial difference in how an behaviour is interpreted as either, or both, motivating and manipulative is based on who is doing the interpretation, what information she has and which aspects that are focused on..

Studien jämför de råd som Niccolò Machiavelli presenterar i "Fursten" med David Kilcullens handledning "Twenty-Eight articles" avseende en framgångsrik förvaltning av makten i ett insatsområde som präglas av en konflikt med irreguljär prägel. Jämförelsen fokuserar främst på hur lokalbefolkningens stöd erhålls men tar även upp andra aspekter på förvaltarskapet såsom flexibilitet och tillfälligheters inverkan på dess dynamik. Studien är genomförd som en kvalitativ, jämförande textanalys där resultatet påvisar ett flertal likheter mellan de två teoretikernas alster rörandes hur framgång erhålls i en irreguljär konflikt..

This essay is about North Korea, Kim Jong Il and how the future looks for the states political system. The purpose is to explain how Kim Jong Il and the North Korean regim rules the state and with help of Machiavellis theory about the Prince, tell about the states future. The essayinvestigates how well Kim Jong Il and the North Korean regime are keeping their power overthe state and if their possibilities to continue in the same way are good or bad. The essayinvestigates North Koreas possibilities for further reign through Niccolo Machiavellis theory.The argument is that the North Korean state and Kim Jong Il have few or noneconditions to continue with the same political system that the state in this time have.The result shows that, through a Machiavellian perspective, Kim Jong Il and the North Korean regime have bad conditions to continue ruling the state in same way as now. The investigation, unfortunately, do not show when and how North Korea will be exposed to a government switch , but the result points to a change..

Background: How do leaders act during organisational changes which involve downsizing? The leader often ends up in focus during these processes. These issues are by no means recently developed. Already the medieval author Machiavelli wrote about leaders? problems with leading changes.

Denna undersökning har analyserat vilka grunder det finns för rädsla och ångest i texter relaterat till franciskanorden. Med hjälp av psykologiska teorier om vad känslor är och hur de uppkommer visar undersökningen att det finns objekt i texter som utgör källor för rädsla och ångest. De objekt för rädsla och ångest som förekommer är bland annat pengar, böcker, kläder och makt och hierarkier. Denna undersökning har även jämfört rädsla och ångest som ett maktinstrument. De dokument som franciskanorden vilar på är inte endast baserat på ödmjukhet, som Franciskus annars förespråkade, utan även rädsla och ångest.Franciskus orden kom att förändras både under och efter hans bortgång.