John Mearsheimer - States Quotes

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The ideal situation for any state is to experience sharp economic growth while its rivals' economies grow slowly or hardly at all.

John Mearsheimer
The most dangerous states in the international system are continental powers with large armies.

John Mearsheimer
The optimists' claim that security competition and war among the great powers has been burned out of the system is wrong. In fact all of the major states around the globe still care deeply about the balance of power among themselves for the foreseeable future.

John Mearsheimer
A state's potential power is based on the size of its population and the level of its wealth.

John Mearsheimer
China, in short has the potential to be considerably more powerful than even the United States.

John Mearsheimer
Simply put, the most powerful state is the one that prevails in a dispute.

John Mearsheimer
Specifically, the presence of oceans on much of the earth's surface makes it impossible for any state to achieve global hegemony.

John Mearsheimer
Important benefits often accrue to states that behave in an unexpected way.

John Mearsheimer
Preserving power, rather than increasing it, is the main goal of states.

John Mearsheimer
States have two kinds of power: latent power and military power.

John Mearsheimer
When an aggressor comes on the scene, at least one other state will eventually take direct responsibility for checking it.

John Mearsheimer
States care about relative wealth, because economic might is the foundation of military might.

John Mearsheimer
... If China continues to rise, you better be very careful, because that will drive the United States stark raving crazy....

John Mearsheimer
Offensive realism predicts that the United States will send its army across the Atlantic when there is a potential hegemon in Europe that the local great powers cannot contain by themselves.

John Mearsheimer
In an ideal world, where there are only good states, power would be largely irrelevant.

John Mearsheimer