In the eighteenth century, 'the power of individual states was conceived to be susceptible of
measurement by certain well‐defined factors' (Gulick, 1955: 24), including population, territory, wealth,
armies and navies. In the ensuing years, this approach evolved into the 'elements of national power'
approach to power analysis reflected in Hans J. Morgenthau's influential textbook Politics Among Nations
([1948] 1960 see also Sprout and Sprout, 1945).
States were depicted as seeking to maximize power relative to each other, thus producing a 'balance of
power' or as seeking to produce a balance of power (Claude, 1962; Gulick, 1955; Haas, 1953; Morgenthau
[1948] 1960). Each version of balance of power theory shared the assumption that it was possible to add
up the various elements of national power, sometimes called 'power resources' or 'capabilities', in order to
calculate the power distribution among the Great Powers. Modern versions of this approach are found in
Waltz's Theory of International Politics (1979) and John J. Mearsheimer’s The Tragedy of Great Power
Politics (2001).