In the 1930s, Adolf Hitler believed that his great-power rivals would be easy to exploit and isolate because each had little interest in fighting Germany and instead was determined to get someone else to assume the burden. He guessed right.

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

The sad fact is that international politics has always been a ruthless and dangerous business, and it is likely to remain that way.

In the anarchic world of international politics, it is better to be Godzilla than Bambi.

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

When World War II started on September 1, 1939, the German army contained 3.74 million soldiers and 103 divisions.

This self-defeating behavior, so the argument goes, must be the result of warped domestic politics.