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PSIR Optional PYQ Solutions · Model answer

Critically examine Machiavelli’s views on religion and politics.

  • UPSC 2018
  • 15 marks
  • Western Political Thought

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Niccolò Machiavelli wrote when the papacy of Alexander VI and Julius II was an Italian territorial power waging wars. He treats religion as a political fact, not a truth: he condemns the Church, values religion, and subordinates both to the state — a coherent realism whose instrumentalism carries costs he underrated.

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

  • Politics Freed from Theology
  • Religion as an Instrument of Rule
  • The Case Against the Church
  • Critical Assessment
  • Conclusion
PSIR Optional PYQ Solutions

PSIR Optional PYQ Solutions

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