ABSTRACT
The major insight and logic of the power-transition theory is that when a dissatisfied country gains sufficient power, it may be expected to challenge the existing dominant state. But why does the increased power of a rising state not make it less dissatisfied? Why does it remain dissatisfied despite its upward mobility in the international system? Presumably, as the title of a recent article suggested,1
this is because power is not satisfaction. This proposition indicates in turn that there is something which the rising state wants that it cannot get even with its increased power. Moreover, it is possible that there is something that the already dominant power (whether or not it is in the process of decline) still wants to have or to have more of. What could be that something that a country which is gaining power and, for that matter, a country which already has a preponderance of power would want?
