Political Practice: Uncertainty, Ethics and Outcomes

An examination of the perils of uncertainty in political practice is not new. In his dissertation on the practice of politics, The Prince, Nicolo Machiavelli observed:

… and it ought to be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things.

(Machiavelli, 1952, p9)