John Mearsheimer

As I said to you before, the two building blocks of power are population size and wealth.

You didn't mention military money.

I did not.

No, that's right.

And it's good that you caught that because if you have a large population and you're a wealthy country, what you do is you build a large military.

And it's ultimately the size of your military that matters because militaries fight wars.

And if states are concerned about survival, which I argue is the principal goal of every state in the international system,

for what I think are obvious reasons, then they're gonna care about having a powerful military that can protect them if another state comes after them.

Yeah, I'm arguing it is obvious.

If you're a state in the international system, do you want to be weak?

If you live next door to Nazi Germany or Imperial Germany or Napoleonic France or even the United States, the United States is a ruthless great power.

You surely recognize that.

And if you're dealing with the United States of America and you're Vladimir Putin, you want to make sure you're as powerful as possible so that the United States doesn't put its gun sights on you and come after you.

Same thing is true with China.

You want to be powerful in the international system.

States understand that and they go to great lengths to become powerful.

Just take the United States of America.

When it started in 1783, it was comprised of 13 measly colonies strung out along the Atlantic seaboard.

Over time, the various leaders of the United States went to great lengths to turn that country into the dominant power in the Western Hemisphere.

And then once that was achieved in 1900, we've gone to great lengths to make sure that there's no peer competitor in the system.