Power and fear in the politics of the great state

Abstract

The great powers, as I point out in my most recent book, aspire to gain power over their rivals and hope to become hegemonic slaves. When the state reaches this elevated position, it becomes a status quo force. However, more can be said about the importance of hegemony.
A hegemon is a state that is so powerful that it dominates all other states in the system. No other state has the military capabilities to wage a serious war against it. In essence, hegemony is the only great power in the system. A state that is essentially stronger than other great powers in the system is not a hegemon because it opposes, by definition, other great powers. For example, in the mid-nineteenth century the United Kingdom was sometimes referred to as the hegemon. But he was not hegemonic, since at that time there were four other DD states in Europe (Austria, France, Prussia and Russia), and the United Kingdom could not significantly dominate them. In fact, at the time, France was seen by the United Kingdom as a serious threat to the balance of power. In the nineteenth century, Europe was multipolar, not unipolar.