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The article discusses various interpretations of the works of thinker Nicolo Machiavelli. German writer Friedrich Meinecke treated Machiavelli more as a contemplative philosopher than as a process-oriented scientist, which Machiavelli to some extent was. This failure to completely extrapolate Machiavelli's thought has serious consequences, for it tends Meinecke toward an overly narrow, monistic interpretation of state behavior. This article demonstrates that Machiavelli's writings contain the elements of a dynamic, general theory of international politics, specifically a balance of power theory. The history of contemporary American balance of power thinking suggests that the limits respected by Machiavelli are the consequence not of his primitiveness but rather his sophistication in dealing with the concept of balance of power. The research work The Theory of Economic Progress is a treatment of the forces which have shaped the development of the economy. It is a theoretical work in which a bold and sweeping explanation is given of the economic development of the Western World isolating those factors which accelerate development and those which impede it.