Great powers also understand that they operate in a self-help world. They have to
rely on themselves to ensure their survival, because other states are potential threats
and because there is no higher authority they can turn to if they are attacked. This is
not to deny that states can form alliances, which are often useful for dealing with
dangerous adversaries. In the final analysis, however, states have no choice but to put their
own interests ahead of the interests of other states as well as the so-called international
community.