Vladimir Putin recently began his third term as President of Russia, and with a skyrocketing approval rating of over 60% obviously won over most of the Russian community, showing a . Niccolo Machiavelli, writer of The Prince, categorizes a prince through their capability to bend and change the laws to his advantage, their ability to instill fear through cruelty treatment towards their people, and their aptitude for maintaining the state. These three major characteristics can only prove the fact that Putin is a modern day Machiavelli. .
Although Putin may play the generous and kind President to the people of his nation, there are many documented accounts of his ability to bend and change the laws to his advantage. It is apparent how "generous and kind" Putin is through Leon Aron's article "How Putin Does It"." Many people would view the releases and pardons of the two women from the band "Pussy-Riot" as a charitable act, but Aron's article puts forward the idea that these pardons were all for good publicity due to the upcoming Olympics. .
In "The Prince," Machiavelli states that "A wise ruler, therefore, cannot and should not keep his word", to which Putin has applied to Russia by changing the laws to adjust to his needs" (48). .
The women previously mentioned were initially imprisoned because they lead a protest performance in Moscow's main Cathedral, but recently Putin passed a new law called the Amnesty law. This law states that most of the convicts, who have only committed minor crimes, may now have their sentence revised and gain a chance at release. The Amnesty Law along with the release of another well-known criminal, Mikhail B. Khodorkovsky, the widely known oil tycoon, has really pushed up Putin's reputation. His willingness to add new laws to boost his reputation is a very well known trait to be considered Machiavellian.
Due to Putin's unwavering talent for not caring about his reputation as a cruel tyrant, we can see that he is, in fact, Machiavellian.