Tragedy of Great Power politics / John J. Mearsheimer.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Machine generated contents note: I -- ONE Introduction -- TWO Anarchy and the Struggle for Power -- THREE Wealth and Power -- FOUR The Primacy of Land Power -- FIVE Strategies for Survival -- SIX Great Powers in Action -- SEVEN The Offshore Balancers -- EIGHT Balancing versus Buck-Passing -- NINE The Causes of Great Power War -- TEN Great Power Politics in the Twenty-first Century -- Notes -- Index.

A decade after the cold war ended, policy makers and academics foresaw a new era of peace and prosperity, an era in which democracy and open trade would herald the "end of history."


The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, sadly shattered these idyllic illusions, and John Mearsheimer’s masterful new book explains why these harmonious visions remain utopian. To Mearsheimer, great power politics are tragic because the anarchy of the international system requires states to seek dominance at one another’s expense, dooming even peaceful nations to a relentless power struggle. Mearsheimer illuminates his theory of offensive realism through a sweeping survey of modern great power struggles and reflects on the bleak prospects for peace in Europe and northeast Asia, arguing that the United States’s security competition with a rising China will intensify regardless of "engagement" policies.