"There are not many instances in history which show great and powerful states creating alliances and organizations to limit their own strength. States are always engaged in curbing the force of some other state. The truth of the matter is that states are interested only in a balance which is in their favor. Not an equilibrium, but a generous margin is their objective. There is no real security in being just as strong as a potential enemy; there is security only in being a little stronger. There is no possibility of action if one's strength is fully checked; there is a chance for a positive foreign policy only if there is a margin of force which can be freely used. Whatever the theory and rationalization, the practical objective is the constant improvement of the state's own relative power position. The balance desired is the one which neutralizes other states, leaving the home state free to be the deciding force and the deciding voice."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Journalists from the United StatesPolitical scientists from the United StatesDiplomats of the United StatesPeople from AmsterdamGeographers from the United States
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Imported from EN Wikiquote
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nicholas_J._Spykman
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Nicholas J. Spykman
Nicholas John Spykman (pronounced "Speak-man", 13 October 1893 – 26 June 1943) was an American political scientist who was one of the founders of the classical realist school in American foreign policy, transmitting Eastern European political thought to the United States. A Sterling Professor of International Relations, teaching as part of the Institute for International Studies at Yale University, one of his prime concerns was making his students geographically literate, as geopolitics was impo
6 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Nicholas J. Spykman →
Related Quotes
"The facts of location do not change. The significant of such facts changes with every shift in the means of communica…"
"Geography is the most fundamental factor in foreign policy because it is the most permanent."
"Plans for far-reaching changes in the character of international society are an intellectual by-product of all great …"
"[A] political equilibrium is neither a gift of the gods nor an inherently stable condition. It results from the activ…"
"Nations which renounce the power struggle and deliberately choose impotence will cease to influence international rel…"
"For we Americans, though we are the most restless race in the world, with the possible exception of the Bedouins, alm…"
"Chicago is stupefying. It knows no rules, and I know none by which to judge it. It stands apart from all the cities i…"
"Kansas used to believe in Populism and free silver. It now believes in hot summers and a hot hereafter."
"It was a Native Son who, when asked by an Englishman, visiting the United States for the first time, to name the Seve…"
"The Corn Belt is a gift of the gods—the rain god, the sun god, the ice god and the gods of geology. In the middle of …"