PYQ Vault · Paper 1 · Western Political Thought
Critically examine Machiavelli’s views on religion and politics.
How the answer moves
The flow snapshot — the routes in, the body, the counter-view and the routes out.
Flow snapshot — how the answer moves
Intro routes
€29 religious ordinances ruled state policy → Machiavelli reverses it → religion serves the state, not rules it G8} not anti-religion → utilitarian stance → religion as instrument of statecraft
Body flow
mile admits utility (ordinances → greatness of commonwealths; neglect → devastation) → disciplinary force → order & stability → but refuses religion as foundation of politics → religion not above the state → opposes Church’s command → separates religious authority from political power → Dunning → frees politics from vassalage of religion → modern age
Counter-view
Sabine → almost blind to religion’s political role over the next two centuries → purely instrumental view underrates religion’s force
Conclusion routes
G3 worth: founds secular, autonomous politics freed from Church control GS} limit: reduces religion to a mere tool of the state, missing its deeper political power
Model answer
Handwritten, in the form it would be written in the examination hall.
