Machiavellianism" is a ...... used negative term to charact...

Machiavellianism" is a ...... used negative term to characterize unscrupulous politicians of the sort Machiavelli described in The Prince. The book itself gained enormous notoriety and wide readership because most readers assumed the author was teaching and endorsing evil and immoral behavior. Because of this, the term "Machiavellian" is often associated with deceit, deviousness, ambition, and brutality. However that was Machiavelli's stylistic device to gain the reader's attention for his close analysis of the actual techniques used by rulers.

(Adapted from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niccol%C3% B2_Machiavelli)

The word that correctly fills in the blank is