Political opportunism Political opportunism Political opportunism refers to the attempt to maintain political support, or increase political influence, in a way which disregards relevant ethical or political principles. The political philosophy of Niccolò Machiavelli as described in "The Prince" is often regarded as a classic manual of opportunist scheming, and indeed a "Machiavellian" is nowadays defined as "a cunning, amoral, and opportunist person, especially a politician". Political opportunism is interpreted in different ways, but usually refers to one or more of the following: Typically, opportunist political behavior is criticized for being short-sighted or narrow-minded. That is, in the urge to make short-term
Niccolò Machiavelli being a statesman and political scientist, Machiavelli also translated classical works, and was a playwright ("Clizia", "Mandragola"), a poet ("Sonetti", "Canzoni", "Ottave", "Canti carnascialeschi"), and a novelist ("Belfagor arcidiavolo"). Some of his other work: "Della Lingua" (Italian for "Of the Language") (1514), a dialogue about Italy's language is normally attributed to Machiavelli. Machiavelli's literary executor, Giuliano de' Ricci, also reported having seen that Machiavelli, his grandfather, made a comedy in the style of Aristophanes which included living Florentines as characters, and to be titled "Le Maschere". It has been suggested that due to such things as this and his style