A Tumultuous Decade of Triumphs and Failures
Uma Purushothaman
THE PRINCE: THE TURBULENT REIGN OF JUSTIN TRUDEAU by By Stephen Maher Simon & Schuster, Canada, 2024, 385 pp., $ 39.99
October 2024, volume 48, No 10

The moment a political scientist hears of the ‘Prince’, his/her mind would go immediately to Machiavelli’s The Prince, which is a discourse on how a Prince should conduct affairs of the state. Stephen Maher’s The Prince does everything but this, though he quotes Machiavelli liberally throughout the book. Maher’s work is instead a critique of Justin Trudeau, once a media favourite but now someone who is trolled quite frequently. Maher uses the title, ‘The Prince’ rather mockingly to drive home the privilege that Trudeau comes from, as the son of a former Prime Minister.

The Prince is divided into three parts: the first part covers the period between 2012-2016; the second the period between 2016-2019 and the third the period between 2019-23. Each part is divided into sections. Maher starts off with how Trudeau began his first term as Prime Minister and how his choice of Cabinet was widely applauded for being gender balanced, and how that made him a ‘feminist darling’ (p. 2) and across the world, a global star. Maher then writes that that feeling of hope and optimism dissipated because of Trudeau’s own mistakes. This is the focus of his work.

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