# kaal:claim:3782193-002

**Claim.** Rigid hierarchies are unstable and inevitably fall, eroded either by internal corruption or by novel external challenges that the hierarchy is not flexible enough to adapt to. These are the second and third destabilizing factors, alongside majority discontent.

**Type.** failure  **Support.** argued

**Holds when.**

- hierarchies whose power relations have become entrenched in secular, codified law

**Source quote.**

> Rigid hierarchies are unstable and inevitably fall, eroded from internal corruption or novel external challenges that the hierarchy is not flexible enough to adapt to. These are the second and third factors that explain why centralized organizations are unstable.

**From.** Craig Calcaterra, Wulf A. Kaal, *Historical Sketches of Centralization vs. Decentralization* (2021), Chapter 9. Historical sketches of centralization vs. decentralization, page 3

**Cite as.** Craig Calcaterra, Wulf A. Kaal, Historical Sketches of Centralization vs. Decentralization (2021). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3782193

**Verify.** sha256 of source PDF `74df9cc9a19a098bdacd0424a4174795f6e184f7a31c8ee7541195186701ebd2` at https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wulfkaal/Academic-Papers/main/papers/pdf/Calcaterra%20and%20Kaal%20-%202021%20-%20Historical%20Sketches%20of%20Centralization%20vs.%20Decentralization.pdf

**Failure mode.** Brittleness of rigid hierarchy  (family: recentralization-drift)

**Topics.** decentralization, institutional-design

**Keywords.** centralization, rigidity, institutional-collapse, corruption, adaptation

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