Traces the rise of private power while explaining that thousands of companies have greater power than all but a handful of states, predicting struggles between major capitalist interests that are introducing new visions about how the world should work.

The goat with the red horns -- 1288: the battles that gave birth to modernity -- 1648: the beginning of the great leveling -- 1776: two revolutions -- What makes a state a state? -- How the rule of law backfired -- Beyong borders -- The coin of whose realm? -- The decline of force -- Supercitizens and semi-states -- Competing capitalisms.