Venezuela, Greenland, and the Return of Geopolitical Expansion
A Lecture on Machiavelli's Foreign Policy
I gave this lecture months before Venezuela & Greenland, but it’s now more relevant than ever. It’s on Machiavelli’s case for conquest: why great nations should pursue foreign expansion.
In his Discourses, Machiavelli wrestles with this choice of stability (Sparta/Venice) or conquest (Rome). While he identifies advantages & disadvantages of both, he ultimately sides with conquest as the better strategy. Machiavelli warns us that our modern obsession with peace is a lot more dangerous than first meets the eye. For easy times make soft men, and soft men make hard times.
We moderns want to reply to Machiavelli that conquest itself is morally repugnant: that even if it is successful, the conqueror becomes corrupted through the process. Machiavelli flips this logic on its head: it’s those who know only peace who are morally decadent, becoming soft and effeminate. In other words, what’s so shocking about reading Machiavelli is not just THAT he urges us to conquer but WHY. He believes that there is something spiritually & morally healthy in conquering others:
Danger cleanses your soul. War brings sobriety. And violence is the best moral teacher.
Let me be clear. I do not agree with Machiavelli’s prescriptions of geopolitical expansion. A return to the 20th century is neither possible nor desirable. But, I do think Machiavelli’s insights are a serious challenge to our modern complacency and, perhaps, overvaluing of peace. I will end this lecture by developing this critique and point to other avenues of expansion that are available to us today.
Topics We Cover:
2:16 The Sobering Power of Violence
5:11 Good Can’t Stand Without Power
12:02 “Startup Mode” is Uncomfortable
17:24 American Expansion vs. Swiss Neutrality
36:07 Fraud: The Humane Way to Conquer
45:35 Tough Laws Will Save The 21st Century
48:04 Tech & Commerce: The Last Domains of Expansion