Racing to the Top

William R. Thompson is a Distinguished Professor and Rogers Professor of Political Science at Indiana University. Recent books include How Rivalries End (Pennsylvania, 2013), Transition Scenarios (Chicago, 2013), and Ascending India and Its State Capacity (Yale, 2016).Leila Zakhirova is an assistant professor of political science at Concordia College. She is a co-editor of Asian Security.

• Part I: IntroductionChapter 1: Systemic Leadership and Energy: The ArgumentChapter 2: The Leadership Long Cycle FrameworkChapter 3: Revising the Framework: Long Cycles, Eurasian History and the Role of Energy Part II: The PastChapter 4: Rome as the Pinnacle of the Western Ancient World Chapter 5: China: The Incomplete TransitionChapter 6: The Netherlands: Not Quite the First Modern Economy and Its Immediate PredecessorsChapter 7: Britain: The First Modern Industrial Economy Combining Technology and EnergyChapter 8: The United States: Emulating and Surpassing Britain Chapter 9: Comparing the Four Main Cases Part III: The FutureChapter 10: Global Warming and (Possibly) the Nature of the Next World Economy UpswingChapter 11: Fracking, Warming, and Systemic LeadershipChapter 12: Racing to a Renewable Transition?Chapter 13: Denouement: World Politics, Systemic Leadership, and Climate Change References