Comparing the U.S. Empire with Great Britain's

David Francis, staff writer, in the Christian Science Monitor (Jan. 14, 2004):

How does the United States hegemony compare with the famed British Empire of the 19th and early 20th century?

Niall Ferguson, a British historian now teaching at New York University's Stern School of Business, finds both similarities and differences:

* At its peak, when the sun literally did not set on its empire, Britain accounted for 10 percent of total world output of goods and services. The US now produces 25 percent of world GDP.

* Militarily, British imperial power never dominated the world like that of the US military today.

* In 1881, about 220,000 British troops were stationed overseas. Today, the US has somewhat more than 250,000 military personnel abroad.

* Britain was a net exporter of capital to its empire, acting as a "world banker" channeling funds to relatively poor countries. In contrast, the US is a massive importer of foreign money. A new IMF report suggests US foreign indebtedness will soon reach a level equivalent to 40 percent of its GDP.

* The US empire is one without colonists or settlers. US service personnel tend to regard foreign postings as "rare and unpleasant duties." About 4 million Americans live abroad, but mostly in Canada, Mexico, and Europe. The British Empire deployed its military, civil service, and businessmen abroad for long periods of time. More than 15 million British subjects were settled in the temperate zones of its empire a century ago.

Mr. Ferguson sees the US as managing an "empire in denial" with an "attention-deficit disorder," unable to maintain for long a public commitment to foreign intervention.