States care about relative wealth, because economic might is the foundation of military might.
John MearsheimerOffensive 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 MearsheimerThe Soviet Union and its empire disappeared in large part because its smokestack economy could no longer keep up with the technological progress of the world's major economic powers.
John MearsheimerA state's potential power is based on the size of its population and the level of its wealth.
John Mearsheimer