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The Western Canon Mailing List
Moderator: Paul John Barnette Jr.
Activation Date: March 8, 1997
Current Date:  August 7, 1997
Current Membership: 94
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Hello All:

     My name is Bret Allyn Williams and I have asked to be the
discussion leader this month on the group's current reading "The 
Prince" by Machiavelli. 

     This work has been a personal favorite of mine for some time. I
have always felt that as the centuries have past since this work was
written, the general principles of this short and dense book not only
have remained sound, but are now being utilized in ways that might or
might not have been foreseen by Machiavelli nearly 500 years ago, you
decide.  I feel in today's world, Machiavelli not only remains an
accurate description of the world of politics and governments, but now
can be applied to the world of international business as attempts are
being made to globalize national economies.  Having some minor
exposure to the world of international business, I thought it might be
novel to suggest that you view this work while reading it in light of
current international economic as well as political trends, something
we might not all think about every day but ultimately does affect us
all. 

Some Initial Impressions:

     Globalization has become the favorite buzzword of business people
and economists worldwide.  We are told by many involved in 
international affairs that globalization literally represents a new 
way of doing business.  It is a process involving corporations 
working within the construct of various regional and worldwide 
governmental alliances for the purpose of developing new markets and 
improving the quality of life, especially in economically 
underdeveloped countries.  These people cite for example the European 
Union, the World Trade Organization, and NAFTA, as representing some 
of the vehicles by which this process will be carried out. They tell 
us that the current activity in this area represents only the 
beginning of an ever increasing strategy which will facilitate 
worldwide economic cohesion. Some economists feel globalization may 
be one of the factors driving the current American stock market 
expansion. Some might even cite the very telecommunications network 
by which you are able to receive this message as evidence of this 
trend.  

     Whatever your view of globalization or what it might represent, 
I think it is interesting to see the parallels in this process to 
those processes described in the initial chapters of "The Prince".  I 
found that as I began to read the "The Prince", and as Machiavelli 
began his famous description of the various types of states and 
dominions and began writing about the rules used by rulers to 
administer new dominions, I began to notice that you could replace 
words such as "monarchies" with "corporations" and "prince" with 
"corporate management".  If these substitutions are made, I think 
"The Prince" can become a fairly accurate description of economic 
globalization.  I began thinking that if one examines the ways in 
which many modern corporations are designed and the way that these 
corporations do business as corporate citizens of nations subject to 
the benefits and restraints of various bilateral, multilateral, or 
plurallateral treaties, one can see many old style Machiavellian 
descriptions and principles in play.  Maybe the idea of globalization 
or the dynamics by which it operates is not as new as some might 
suggest.

     I look forward to any comments you may have about the work.  See
you next week.    

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