However, he fatal flaw in Mearsheimer’s argumentis in his failure to distinguish between ‘being a hegemon’ and ‘bidding for hegemony’. It may indeed be that ‘the ideal situation is to be the hegemon in the system.’ But according to his theory, ‘survival is the number one goal of great powers.’ Therefore, the central question for a great power mulling a bid for hegemony is not ‘If I was the hegemon, will I be more likely to survive?’ It is, ‘If I make a bid for hegemony, will I be more likely to survive?’ And here the answer should be obvious to any rational great power bidding for hegemony is one of the few and rare paths to destruction for a great power. Most great powers are extremely likely to survive; most great powers that bid for hegemony do not.
However, he fatal flaw in Mearsheimer’s argumentis in his failure to distinguish between ‘being a hegemon’ and ‘bidding for hegemony’. It may indeed be that ‘the ideal situation is to be the hegemon in the system.’ But according to his theory, ‘survival is the number one goal of great powers.’ Therefore, the central question for a great power mulling a bid for hegemony is not ‘If I was the hegemon, will I be more likely to survive?’ It is, ‘If I make a bid for hegemony, will I be more likely to survive?’ And here the answer should be obvious to any rational great power bidding for hegemony is one of the few and rare paths to destruction for a great power. Most great powers are extremely likely to survive; most great powers that bid for hegemony do not.
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