William R. Thompson, Distinguished Professor and Rogers Professor of Political Science Emeritus, Indiana University, is Editor-in-Chief of the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics, a former Editor-in-Chief of International Studies Quarterly, and a former President of the International Studies Association. He recently co-authored Racing to the Top: How Energy Fuels Systemic Leadership in World Politics, edited the Oxford Encyclopedia of Empirical International Relations, and co-edited Shocks and Rivalry in the Middle East and North Africa.

Space, Time and Systemic Leadership.- Demography, Long Cycles, and Climate/Disease.- Historical Scripts, Leadership Sequencing, and Counterfactuals.- Clustering of Technological Change in Pioneer Economics.- Energy Leads and Transitions.- Malign Versus Benign Motivations.- Economic Rivalry and Global War.- Precipitants, Non-linearities, and Structural Change.- Trade, Growth, and Conflict.- Summary and Recapitulation.