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PSIR Optional PYQ Solutions · Model answer

Comment: “The prince must be fox and the lion at the same time.” (Machiavelli)

  • UPSC 1998
  • Western Political Thought

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The image comes from Chapter XVIII of Niccolò Machiavelli's The Prince (written 1513, published 1532), on whether rulers must keep faith. It inverts Marcus Tullius Cicero, for whom force (the lion) and fraud (the fox) were both bestial (De Officiis, I.41); Machiavelli turns the reproach into a job description: effective rule needs force and cunning…

You are reading the opening of the model answer. The full answer is part of the PSIR Optional PYQ Solutions.

What the full answer covers

  • The Argument of Chapter XVIII
  • The Strongest Case
  • The Indian Parallel
  • Critique
  • Conclusion
PSIR Optional PYQ Solutions

PSIR Optional PYQ Solutions

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