er that a systems theory is both needed and possible (57).
This does not mean that systems theory ignores the actions of individual states. To the contrary, systems theory allows the analyst to understand more clearly the actions of individual states than reductionist theory does. Systems theory lets the analyst see the different effects that individual states have on the system. For example, Waltz writes that it would be foolish to create a theory of global politics based on any single country. This is true even if the state is a great power, but it is especially true if the state is weak. Waltz equates this with creating an economic theory based on a single corporation. Still, "the fates of all the states and of all the firms in a system are affected much more by the acts and the interactions of the major ones than of the minor ones. . . . To focus on great powers is not to lose sight of lesser ones" (61).
Waltz then looks at the importance of the structure of the system, because
some part of the explanation of behaviors and outcomes is found in the system's st
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