From the beginning of political thought, there have been two contending perspectives on how governments should be run and politics should be conducted. 

One view is that politics should be the art of the practical and that those who follow its profession should be guided by the simple principle of determining what works best in the world of men. Another view is that politics should be an instrument for improving the quality of life for individuals and society, and that government should strive to serve the higher principles of mankind, even at the cost of expediency. 

In this series of essays, we will discuss the realism versus idealism debate by examining some of the writings of Machiavelli, as these have been translated by P. Bondanella and M. Musa in The Portable Machiavelli (Penguin Books, 1982).