Realism emphasized the nation-state as the preferred unit of analysis, noting the overriding primacy ofstate self-interest in power as a motivation for state behavior, and stating a firm commitment to exploring international relations
as it is, not as it should be. Scientism provided a second commitment to careful empirical investigation of phenomena, entailing data collection, creation of formal models (often statistical or mathematical in nature), and falsifiability of resulting models. As the state was the unit of analysis, its behavior was seen as best comprehended in the context of the system of states in which it found itself Distribution of capabilities across states was the primary determinant of behavior within any given system.