“analytical level”

“The analogy works at the analytical level,”

The two historical situations have different historical content, but they share a similar logical structure.

For example:

Post-imperial state

Legal independence

but limited economic resources

limited bargaining power

constrained practical autonomy.

Formerly enslaved worker

Legal freedom

but limited land/capital

limited bargaining power

constrained practical economic autonomy.

The historical situations are different, but the relationship between formal status, resources, bargaining power, and practical autonomy is structurally similar.

That's what “analytical level” means.

But the situations are “obviously different.

Because it would be historically misleading to equate:

a newly independent sovereign state

with:

a formerly enslaved individual.

The analogy is about how formal freedom and practical capacity can diverge, not about claiming that the two historical experiences were the same.