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

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

Bandwagoning is a strategy for the weak.

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

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

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

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.