John Mearsheimer

Think of Theodor Herzl's famous book.

It's called The Jewish State

Nation state, think of the word, nation state, that embodies nationalism, nation state, Jewish state.

Palestinians want their own state, two-state solution, right?

Can't beat the Palestinians into submission, right?

The Indians wanted their own state.

The Pakistanis wanted their own state.

The Kenyans wanted their own state.

Singapore wanted its own state.

Oh, the Americans wanted their own state.

This is called the American Revolution, right?

So that's the first reason, nationalism, that these empires disappeared.

The second reason is that from a cost-benefit analysis, they no longer made any sense.

And it was the coming of the Industrial Revolution.

Once the Industrial Revolution comes, an empire is basically an albatross around your neck.

I would argue that the British Empire was an albatross around Britain's neck in most of the 20th century.

Some of my friends disagree with that and think there were all sorts of benefits from the British Empire.

But you want to remember that in the 20th century, the three countries that really were powerful were the United States, Germany, and the Soviet Union.

Those were the big three.

Did any of them have an empire?