Machiavellian, Amoral Member of the Dark Triad

Psychologists have a term for a collection of three undesirable personality traits:  narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellian-ism.  They call it the Dark Triad.  The third trait was named after Niccolo Machiavelli, the second chancellor from Florence, Italy who lived from 1469 to 1527.  In his book The Prince, Machiavelli discusses ways in which rulers of nations can use political expediency above morality and gain control of the people, basically through manipulation and deceit.

What kind of man Machiavelli was is surely demonstrated by the company he keeps in the triad:  narcissists and psychopaths.  Yet, we all know people such as he; therefore we must call it like it is and more importantly know it for what it means. Power Word #13, Machiavellian.

Definition
Machiavellian:  of or relating to Machiavelli; cunning, scheming, unscrupulous, amoral, opportunist, duplicitous, cut throat, unconscionable, unethical.  Can be used as an adjective or a noun--a person who follows the beliefs of Machiavelli.

Origin
Named for Niccolo Machiavelli, with the publication of his book The Prince in 1513

Examples
1.  Johnson's Machiavellian tendency to detach himself from any form of community building made him an ineffective member of the welcoming committee.

2.  The Machiavellian battle of ISIS to gain and control power over Syria and Iraq has been viewed by the West as a dark pessimistic view of brutal opportunism.

3.  During her last semester of college, Janie's philosophy professor assigned The Prince, the book that analyzes Machiavellian methods of governing people with manipulation, craft, and deceit.


Everyday life with its often mundane duties of jobs, school, and family life--hobbies and a bit of relaxation thrown in, often discourages serious responses toward leadership, including our government.  Generally the most we can hope for in exercising citizenship for the good of humanity is casting our informed vote in each election.  Furthermore, the average person is not a psychologist trained in the science of recognizing and diagnosing personality disorders. Yet, leaders of government, industry and business, and even education have indeed exhibited the cold selfishness that results in high priorities of money, power, and the advancement of one's career or position at the expense of the less powerful.  We don't need to look far to observe it happening today. Harsh management tactics and manipulative behaviors tend to stifle if not enslave people, and frequently because of our constraints of time and training and even consciousness, we are helpless in preventing them.

Thus, unfortunately, you won't find any answers to such madness in this post, but as you know, "Consciousness is as good as it gets."  Perhaps an awareness of the word might engender an awareness of our growing lack of tolerance for the actions of such power hungry leaders.