@Simplicator i think it's possible to have a more institutional hegemon, rather than one nation-state. just like the leviathan of the liberal state is meaningfully different than a traditional security-through-obeisance autocrat, there could be some international analogue, what the UN tried and failed to be, but without all the veto points. on the one hand it sounds idealistic, on the other, neither continuing US nor emerging Chinese hegemony strikes me as very practical (for different reasons).