Fortunately, the conceptual shortcomings in Schweller’s analytical framework can be remedied. In the first place, there exists a compelling alternative to the rather cumbersome notion that a state’s proclivity toward bandwagoning should be calculated by taking “the costs a given state is willing to pay to increase its values” and subtracting “the costs the same state is willing to pay to defend the values it already has.” The alternative lies in assessing the state’s prospects for the future.