The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Politics (157 page)

 
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(1871–1919)
Socialist writer and politician active in Polish, German, and Russian socialist movements. She led the Spartacus League out of the SPD (German socialist party) in 1917. She was murdered in January 1919 during the abortive Berlin insurrection.
Her
Social Reform or Revolution?
(1899) was an outstanding critique of
revisionism
. In
Mass Strike, Party and Trade Unions
(1906) she attacked Lenin's
democratic centralism
, arguing that the party must provide political direction but must also be in touch with the spontaneous mobilizations of the masses. Influenced by the 1905 Russian Revolution, she focused upon the mass strike as the embodiment of spontaneity in that it represented a whole series of activities, combining economic and political demands, during a revolutionary situation.
The Accumulation of Capital
(1913)—her main work—described how the industrialized states solved the problem of surplus product by exporting it to non-capitalist states, involving them in a world system of exploitation. Once all had been absorbed, there would be no further destination for the surplus and capitalism would collapse. Although criticized for a misreading of Marx, Luxemburg's depiction of the relationship between centre and periphery influenced dependency theory. Luxemburg's most trenchant criticism of the Bolsheviks in
The Russian Revolution
and
Leninism or Marxism
? was that they had established a party dictatorship which had resulted in ‘the brutalisation of public life’. She believed that there should be no distinction between revolutionary method and revolutionary aim, although she might be criticized for a refusal to confront the problems of power.
GS 

 
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The Maastricht agreement (signed 7 February 1992) was an important amendment to the
Treaty of Rome
and associated treaties of the European Communities. Building on the 1986
Single European Act
(SEA), the Maastricht agreement accelerated and enhanced the institutions and processes of European integration. Upon implementation (November 1993) the European Community was replaced by the European Union. The immediate changes were not as dramatic as the change of title suggests, but the treaty combines a number of far-reaching measures. The Single Market Programme will be linked to new provisions for an economic and monetary union (EMU), symbolized by the three-stage adoption of a single European currency and monetary policy by the end of the century, to be built on the existing European monetary system (EMS). To these ends provisions for an independent European central bank were put in place. In addition, a common foreign and defence policy is to be developed among the fifteen member states, and the relevant institutional machinery was introduced into what had hitherto been a process of economic integration ( see
functionalism
). Further changes included greater powers for the Commission to enable it to cope with the new measures, and the democratic legitimacy of EU institutions was enhanced marginally by greater powers for the European Parliament. Finally, the supranational elements of the institutions were boosted by greater majority voting in the Council of Ministers. However, the onset of serious economic recession (1991), the turmoil of German reunification (1989), instability in the EMS, and serious doubts about the treaty in some member states (especially Denmark and the United Kingdom) have cast a shadow over its smooth implementation.
GU 

 
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(1469–1527)
Florentine political adviser and historian, often regarded as the first modern political theorist. After the fall of Savonarola's administration, Machiavelli became head of the Second Chancery of Florence at the age of twenty-nine. As a member of Florentine diplomatic delegations, Machiavelli became acquainted with the chief political actors of his region and time— notably, Cesare Borgia , Maximilian (the Holy Roman Emperor), and Pope Julius II. Following the invasion of Florence and restoration of the Medici family, Machiavelli was sacked and imprisoned for conspiracy. Upon his release in 1513 he sought employment as a political adviser to the new Medici Pope (Giovanni), to whom he dedicated
The Prince
. Political ambitions frustrated, Machiavelli turned to scholarship in the company of a group of ‘literati’ at the ‘Orti Oricellari’. During this period he wrote (among other works) three
Discourses
on the first ten books of Livy's history of Rome (completed in 1519). From 1521 until his death, Machiavelli devoted his attention to writing a commissioned history of Florence.
Machiavelli's main contributions to political science are to be found in
The Prince
and the
Discourses
. Both works can be seen as expounding the requirements for the maintenance of political stability in two different regimes (principalities in
The Prince
, republics in the
Discourses
), addressing similar themes, and offering similar counsel to political leaders. The primary goals of political leaders must be to sustain government, and to acquire glory, honour, and riches for the rulers and their people. The bulk of the discussion in these works is concerned with what is required of those in power in order to secure these goods. Machiavelli's answer rests on the interplay of two key classical concepts—
fortune
and
virtú
.
Machiavelli's concept of
fortune
is very much a Roman rather than a Christian inheritance. Fortune is not a synonym for ‘fate’ or ‘Providence’ in Machiavelli's usage. Rather, it is a ‘force’ with which a state must ‘ally’ itself in order to reap greatness. Machiavelli argues that princes (and in republics the whole citizen body) must be prepared to do whatever is necessary to preserve liberty and earn glory on behalf of the state. This is the quality of
virtú
.
Virtú
uses luck and fortune when it can, but princes who possess it can achieve great things even without luck or fortune. In an evil world, Machiavelli warns, the wise prince must recognize that it is not always prudent to act according to conventional maxims of private morality. Nothing other than necessity should dictate a prince's actions. Much of
The Prince
is devoted to examples (drawn largely from Machiavelli's own diplomatic experience) of the art of political leadership—princes must imitate the cunning of the fox and the brawn of the lion; they must avoid the people's hatred but sustain their awe; they must consistently project an image of nobility and virtue irrespective of their deeds; they must be prepared to be cruel.
Whereas
The Prince
is concerned with the qualities of princes, the
Discourses
place a greater emphasis on the civic demands on citizens. Machiavelli's central claim in the
Discourses
is that liberty is a necessary precondition for the accumulation of power and riches. The protection of liberty is therefore the fundamental political task in a republic, and requires first and foremost a citizen body of the highest ‘virtue’. What role should rulers play in a republic? Machiavelli's answer is that they should organize the polity in such a way as to promote the virtue of its citizens, and prevent its corruption (either by the substitution of private for general interests, or by creeping indifference). This requires men of great stature, exhibiting those qualities detailed in
The Prince
. In addition, a state can only secure its liberty through a perennial quest for dominion over other states (for which a large population, citizen militias, and strong allies are indispensable). Internally, a strong republic is characterized by a wisely designed constitution and basic institutions (
ordini
) whose chief function is to promote the civic patriotism required to secure liberty. Central to this project is state sponsorship of divine worship in order to inspire individuals to strive for excellence and glory. However, Machiavelli is at his most radical in urging that this utilitarian function is better fulfilled by Roman religion than by Christianity (with its enervating values of piety, humility, and general ‘other-worldliness’). Machiavelli also rejects conventional Christian affirmation of social harmony by emphasizing the instrumental value of preserving the distinction between the ‘orders’ of rich and poor. Fearing the domination of one order by the other, Machiavelli embraced the notion of a ‘mixed constitution’, neither aristocracy nor democracy, but embracing elements of both forms. Similarly, laws should be designed not only to protect the rich (e.g. prohibition on slander) as well as the masses (e.g. limitation of emergency power provisions), but to keep people poor in order to avoid the dangers of factionalism.
Machiavelli remains an impenetrable figure—as Sabine observes: ‘He has been represented as an utter cynic, an impassioned patriot, an ardent nationalist, a political Jesuit, a convinced democrat, and an unscrupulous seeker after the favor of despots.’ His work excites similar controversy. Civic republican commentators (e.g. Skinner, Pocock) see Machiavelli as part of a broader contemporary renaissance of the virtues of classical humanism. Straussians (e.g. Strauss, Mansfield), in contrast, view Machiavelli as a pivotal figure in the history of political philosophy in his elevation of ‘liberty’ above ‘nature’ as the defining object of political enquiry. To these interpreters, Machiavelli is the first modern political philosopher.
SW