Description
The 20th century created the perfect ground for emerging powers to challenge existing ones, leading to significant shifts in the international power structure. AFK Organski’s Power Transition Theory (1958) studies these shifts and identifies China as a key challenger to the U.S. hegemony. However, as China approaches its hegemonic status, some Western-focused IR theories may require revision to accommodate the unique aspects of China’s rise. China’s commitment to international institutions, soft power policies, and economic cooperation contradicts the aggressive power shifts traditionally associated with rising power and power transitions. Statements that try to justify an aggressive perception of the Chinese policies to fit a theory end up limiting China’s rise as power and its process, history, and policy. An entire analysis as important as China’s rise as a power can be damaged by not revising a theory. The Power Transition Theory is pragmatic and rationalist, but it doesn’t erase its flexibility, and make it very useful. Through a brief literature review, this article explores whether the Power Transition Theory can solely explain China’s rise or if additional theoretical frameworks will be necessary in future research.
