Kautilya’s Arthashastra and Machiavelli’s The Prince: A Comparative Analysis of Political Realism, Ethics, and the Exercise of Power Introduction The tradition of political realism in classical political theory finds distinct and compelling expressions in the works of Kautilya’s Arthashastra (c. 4th century BCE) and Niccolò Machiavelli’s The Prince (1513 CE). Though separated by time, geography, … Continue reading How do the conceptions of statecraft in Kautilya’s Arthashastra and Machiavelli’s The Prince compare in terms of political realism, the role of ethics in governance, and the exercise of power in maintaining state stability?