ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book analyses the extent to which American dominance in world affairs is based on the control of oil resources and the changes which will inevitably take place with the end of the oil era. The physical involves finding more efficient ways to use oil and developing substitutes for it. The social implies major shifts in the distribution of world income and concomitant changes in world power relationships. The rise of oil in the United States gave birth to a new group of entrepreneurs, the international oil companies, who began to play an increasingly important role in the domestic economy. Furthermore, the very nature of oil, a commodity whose supply is finite and whose geographical distribution is highly unequal, has led these companies to expand in other countries in their search for oil.
