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Second, critics of offensive realism point to countering factors such as the “democratic peace” or international institutions. However, an evolutionary perspective raises new doubts about the significance of such evidence. The very existence of these phenomena, not to mention the extreme efforts and expense they continually require to function, only supports the point that international politics needs very special and powerful arrangements to prevent people from acting as offensive realists—predisposed as they are to do so. And, even then, these arrangements often fail to work. When the stakes are high enough, individuals as well as states all too easily revert to egoism, dominance, and fear. Third, critics point to international cooperation among states as evidence against offensive realism. We realize international cooperation is prevalent, but that does not mean such cooperation is easy to obtain. On the contrary, it is famously hard to initiate and maintain from both a theoretical and empirical perspective, which is why this topic continues to fill huge volumes of scholarly literature in economics and political science.208,209 As we have emphasized, cooperation is easy to explain where it brings clear mutual benefits to the self-interest of those involved, such as trade or military alliances (in which case offensive realism is as good an explanation of cooperation as any other theory). Collective action to attain public goods, however, is much harder to attain because of the threat of free-riders (as demonstrated, for example, by the slow response to climate change, the reluctance of states to accept Syrian refugees, and Eurozone fiscal responsibility). Where extensive international cooperation does occur, it is often only by virtue of a hegemon willing to sustain it, and cooperation quickly breaks down if core interests and security are put at risk. Furthermore, cooperation is often itself a means to power maximization in the formation of military and security alliances—and thus, cooperation can be a prediction of, not a challenge to, offensive realism. Where a state’s own security is threatened or the state becomes vulnerable to exploitation, alliances offer one means of increasing or preserving power. Similar patterns are evident in nature. Animals do not constantly fight. Natural selection generates contingent behavior because it is more effective than blind aggression. Individuals bide their time, form coalitions and alliances, and cooperate with others, but they also seize power where the opportunity arises. States are much the same. In international politics, the bigger problem may be aspiring hegemons—states that do not need to cooperate to obtain what they want.