Machiavelli has a simple yet complex method for avoiding revolutions.
Simple, because it can be obtained in two ways. Complex, because it is still necessary to be able to implement these directives.
In any case, here is Machiavelli’s secret to avoid a revolution for the leaders of a country:
To govern is to put the exam questions out of harm’s way and even to think about it; which is obtained either by taking away the means to do it, or by giving them such a good feeling that they do not desire another fate.
Machiavelli, Discourse on the First Decade of Titus Livius II, 23
It is a regular criticism of our society, the argument that rulers try to put the people to sleep in order to maintain themselves. This reflection goes back to Machiavelli at the latest. One can think of the consumer society in all its aspects, and for example television, as a system to satisfy the appetites of the citizens, to divert them from the real political issues.
→ The stability of the state – Machiavelli
As for removing the means to make a revolution, to rule in place of the rulers, one can think of the increasingly repressive measures against demonstrators, and for example the ban on hidden face demonstrations.
Nicholas Machiavelli was a philosopher who died in 1527. He worked for the Florentine republic. His most famous treatise is called The Prince, and was published in 1532 (about 20 years after it was written).
