In the international political economy of the last two millennia, there tends to be one state leading the world as the foremost producer of energy and new technology. In Racing to the Top, William R. Thompson and Leila Zakhirova argue that the US and China, like previous leading countries, rely on energy transition, or the development of alternative energy, in order to make new technology relatively inexpensive to develop and to fuel. While the US has historically held the lead, its edge in the global energy economy appears to be eroding, and as energy leadership diminishes, so does the country's position in world politics. Thompson and Zakhirova take a long view in order to show what will be necessary for a new power to emerge as the system leader, then map a path forward for energy policy. Informed by a deep knowledge of world history, political economy, and environmental technology, this book is the first complete overview of energy transitions over the past thousand years.

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 EnergyPart II: The PastChapter 4: Rome as the Pinnacle of the Western Ancient WorldChapter 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 BritainChapter 9: Comparing the Four Main CasesPart 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 ChangeReferences