The comparison turns on whether other great powers could combine against the dominant state. Britain after the Napoleonic Wars was first among equals, but a coalition involving France, Russia, Prussia, or Austria could threaten its position. On this reading, the United States between 1991 and about 2010 could overpower any plausible combination of rivals. Such concentrated power encouraged the expectation that the international order would continue indefinitely. The disagreement concerns how much blame to attach to governments faced with an unfamiliar situation, while both positions recognize the danger of assuming that the situation would never change.
Notable Point · 56:03-58:04
Why post-1991 US dominance was historically unusual
Post-Napoleonic Britain faced potential coalitions of peers; the early post-Cold War United States is judged to have faced no comparable constraint.