John J. Mearsheimer
American professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago.
Simply put, the most powerful state is the one that prevails in a dispute.
The sad fact is that international politics has always been a ruthless and dangerous business, and it is likely to remain that way.
The liberal tradition has its roots in the Enlightenment, that period in the eighteenth-century Europe when intellectuals and political leaders had a powerful sense that reason could be employed to make the world a better place.
Decapitation is a fanciful strategy.
States care about relative wealth, because economic might is the foundation of military might.
The most dangerous states in the international system are continental powers with large armies.
When World War II started on September 1, 1939, the German army contained 3.74 million soldiers and 103 divisions.
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.