Status quo state is a term from power transition theory within the wider field of international relations.
[1][2] When scholars categorize states as revisionist or status-quo seeking they are able to explain important outcomes in international politics, such as war and peace.
Moreover, if status-quo states recognize each other as such and are not threatened by each other, they should be confronted with fewer cooperation-inhibiting problems (e.g., relative gain concerns) than they would if they feared others' intentions.
[2] The author also explains this with the example of the Concert of Europe[4] in which states were able to hold those norms and follow those rules because they were status-quo seekers and understood that their neighbors were also committed to the status quo.
As the history of great power war and peace may be seen as a series of clashes between revisionists and status-quo seekers.