Nonetheless, the problem faced by Isabella and Fernando is real and all
too common. When a leader has to rule a place that is physically separate from
the home country – or simply when the country is so big that the tail is far
away from the head – he would have to worry the new colony may go out of his
grip. It happened in the Roman Empire (with its Constantinople), Victorian
London (with its Bombay), Jack Welch's General Electric, and Stegosaurus.
According to Niccolo Machiavelli, there are two reasonable policies:
1.
The ruler
should go and live in his new territories.
2.
Send
colonies (rather than a standing army) to settle in the new territories.
Maybe, after all, our modern Queen Isabella has a point.
Go read The Prince.
2 comments:
There was an untold story in the history books: Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand did head for their dreamland after their retirement.....a faraway north-east part of the new found land, which is nowadays called Greenland.....
Or they could send all the prisoners and outcasts to the new found land.
Post a Comment