What John Mearsheimer thinks about government
Political scientist at the University of Chicago, author of The Tragedy of Great Power Politics and the founding statement of offensive realism.
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We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.
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4 dated positions, 2023, in their own words. Our reading of what John Mearsheimer has said — not written or endorsed by them.
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Their wordsI believe that power is the currency of international relations, and by that I mean that states are deeply interested in the balance of power and they're interested in maximizing how much power they control.
↗John Mearsheimer: Israel-Palestine, Russia-Ukraine, China, NATO, and WW3 | Lex Fridman Podcast #401youtube.com 1st of 22 in this recording
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Our readingA state's power rests on two material foundations only: the size of its population and its wealth.
Their wordsThe two key building blocks of power are population size and wealth. You want to have a lot of people and you want to be really wealthy.
↗John Mearsheimer: Israel-Palestine, Russia-Ukraine, China, NATO, and WW3 | Lex Fridman Podcast #401youtube.com 2nd of 22 in this recording
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Our readingWhether a state is a democracy or an autocracy makes no difference to how it behaves abroad.
Their wordsA realist like me would say that it doesn't matter whether a state is a democracy or not, all states behave the same way because the structure of the system, getting back to our earlier discussion about international anarchy, the structure of the system leaves those states no choice, whether they're democracies or autocracies.
↗John Mearsheimer: Israel-Palestine, Russia-Ukraine, China, NATO, and WW3 | Lex Fridman Podcast #401youtube.com 4th of 22 in this recording
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Their wordsI'm not a defensive realist, I'm an offensive realist. And my argument is that states look for opportunities to gain more power, and every time they see, or almost every time they see an opportunity to gain more power, and they think the likelihood of success is high and the cost will not be great, they'll jump at that opportunity.
↗John Mearsheimer: Israel-Palestine, Russia-Ukraine, China, NATO, and WW3 | Lex Fridman Podcast #401youtube.com 6th of 22 in this recording