Mearsheimer (2001: 212, 213) concludes that while the success rate of one out of five is ‘not impressive,’ he nevertheless insists the take-home point is that ‘the American case demonstrates that it is possible to achieve regional hegemony,’ thus proving the naysayers wrong. Instead, ‘the pursuit of regional hegemony is not a quixotic ambition, although there is no denying it is difficult to achieve. Since the security benefits of hegemony are enormous, powerful states will invariably be tempted to emulate the United States and try to dominate their region of the world.’