Energy, the Modern State, and the American World System

George A. Gonzalez

• Publisher: SUNY Press
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9781438469805, 9781438469812
• eBook ISBN: 9781438469829
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Modern History
• Index: Politics & International Relations

In this provocative and original study, George A. Gonzalez argues that the relationship between energy and the state, as well as global politics, has become more and more deeply intertwined, reaching something of a crescendo with the global hegemony of Pax Americana in the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. He presents a clear and concise case for viewing the modern state as the collaborative and affirmative union of capitalism and political authority in a setting where energy resources, be it wind, coal, or oil, provide the basis for the relatively inexpensive projection of political power. More broadly, energy serves as the foundation of the modern economy and, because of this, a prime function of the modern state is ensuring access to cheap, reliable sources to power and grow the economy. Historically, energy is more of a zero-sum resource than capital, markets, labor, or technology, and thus is a greater source of geopolitical tension and violence. Energy politics, and by extension international politics is, moreover, shaped by domestic corporate elites, especially those within the United States.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Theoretical Overview
• Preface
• Chapter One Energy and the Modern State
• Chapter Two The Political Economy of Energy
• Chapter Three Urban Sprawl in the U.S. and the Creation of the Hitler Regime
• Chapter Four Urban Sprawl, the Great Depression, and the Start of World War II
• Chapter Five U.S. Economic Elites, Nuclear Power, and Solar Energy
• Chapter Six Global Oil Politics
• Chapter Seven Plutonium and U.S. Foreign Policy
• Conclusion Energy and the Global Order
• Notes
• Selected Bibliography
• Index
• Back Cover