The Hunger Games is an interesting book/movie; in both the movie and the book a girl Katniss is put up with 23 other people from the 12 districts around the country of Panem in the annual Hunger Games. In the middle of all the districts is the Capitol; the children in the Capitol don't go into a Reaping for the Games, and they are very privileged. Also in the Capitol is President Snow and the way he rules Panem is more unorthodox then regular presidents.
Niccolo di Bernardo dei Machiavelli was an Italian philosopher who came up with the theory, for leaders, to be feared more than loved. He said, " ... a prince ought to inspire fear in such a way that, if he does not win love, he avoids hatred; because he can endure very well being feared whilst he is not hated... " by this quote he means that a leader should want to be feared than love because he can not control who loves or hates him but he can control who fears him. President Snow is in a way different then the leaders Machiavelli describe.
Machiavelli would assess Snow as a leader that would rather be feared than loved. He wants to be feared to the districts, but in the Capitol he wants them to love him. The districts rebelled against the capitol when there were 13 districts instead of just 12. In return of the rebellion the Capitol made the Hunger Games and genetic mutations in normal animals. They made Jabber-Jays to spy on people linked to the rebellion; and Tracker Jackers to sting people and make them have hallucinations. Then there is the Hunger Games, He didn't come up with the Games but he reinforces them and if anything goes wrong he punishes them. At the end of the Games the head gamemaker, Seneca Crane, lets both Katniss and Peeta live after the berry incident. Snow wasn't too happy with this, so he locked Crane in a room with the same nightlock berries and made him choose a slow starving death or eat them and die painlessly.
Snow is an odd fellow, not like most leaders. He wants to be feared more than loved, but will do anything in his power to have the Capitol love him and praise him. He makes the districts fear him so they think they can't defeat him to keep away the idea of rebellion. So maybe Machiavelli would assess Snow the way he thinks a prince/leader should be, but Snow has some qualities that don't fully add up to Machiavelli's standards.
Machiavelli would assess Snow as a leader that would rather be feared than loved. He wants to be feared to the districts, but in the Capitol he wants them to love him. The districts rebelled against the capitol when there were 13 districts instead of just 12. In return of the rebellion the Capitol made the Hunger Games and genetic mutations in normal animals. They made Jabber-Jays to spy on people linked to the rebellion; and Tracker Jackers to sting people and make them have hallucinations. Then there is the Hunger Games, He didn't come up with the Games but he reinforces them and if anything goes wrong he punishes them. At the end of the Games the head gamemaker, Seneca Crane, lets both Katniss and Peeta live after the berry incident. Snow wasn't too happy with this, so he locked Crane in a room with the same nightlock berries and made him choose a slow starving death or eat them and die painlessly.
So in the end, President Snow got what he wanted, Seneca dead and Katniss knowing he wanted her dead as well.
I like how you brought up background information on the Hunger games. I agree with you that Machiavelli would think he is a leader.
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