When Systems Escalate: A Cross-Domain Account of Capacity Erosion in Administrative Systems
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| Langue: | anglais |
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2026
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| _version_ | 1866901980379611136 |
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| author | Morgan, David S |
| author_facet | Morgan, David S |
| contents | <h1>Abstract</h1> <p class="MsoNormal">Administrative systems across many domains produce a recurring outcome: moderate signals are converted into responses that reduce the recipient’s capacity to meet the system’s next requirement. This paper introduces <em>Administrative Escalation Dynamics</em> (AED) as the construct that names this operational mechanism. AED specifies the point at which Acceleration Without Metabolization (AWM), a system-level theory of destabilization under interpretive overrun (Morgan, 2026a), becomes observable in interaction.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">AED identifies a four-stage mechanism: a moderate signal arrives, the system applies a compressed interpretation that reduces context to a binary classification, the system responds with a capacity-reducing intervention, and the resulting capacity loss raises the probability of further signal generation, closing a feedback loop. Ten coded cases drawn from peer-reviewed studies in criminal justice, public benefits, healthcare, credit, education, and workplace administration provide the first cross-domain empirical demonstration.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Across all ten cases, moderate signals were converted into capacity-reducing interventions producing escalation or recurrence rather than stabilization. The cross-domain consistency suggests that escalation is not a property of individual systems but a structural outcome of how administrative architectures process signals once interpretive capacity is exceeded. AED is the operational expression of AWM at the level of interaction. In each case, the cost of escalation falls on the person the system was designed to serve.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Implications for system design, policy, and leadership are discussed. The central inversion is that systems frequently undermine the conditions they require for the outcomes they intend; by the same mechanism, they can preserve rights in form while degrading them in practice.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><strong>Keywords: </strong>Administrative Escalation Dynamics; capacity-reducing intervention; administrative burden; service navigation; signal compression; interpretive capacity; feedback loops; cross-domain mechanism; structural inversion; pretrial detention; Medicaid churn; capabilities approach; street-level bureaucracy; Acceleration Without Metabolization</p> |
| format | Recurso digital |
| id | zenodo_https___doi_org_10_5281_zenodo_20001303 |
| institution | Zenodo |
| language | eng |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| publisher | Zenodo |
| record_format | zenodo |
| spellingShingle | When Systems Escalate: A Cross-Domain Account of Capacity Erosion in Administrative Systems Morgan, David S Administration Escalation Dynamics capacity-reducing intervention administrative burden service navigation signal compression interpretive capacity feedback loops cross-domain mechanism structural inversion pretrial detention Medicaid churn capabilities approach street-level bureaucracy Acceleration Without Metabolization <h1>Abstract</h1> <p class="MsoNormal">Administrative systems across many domains produce a recurring outcome: moderate signals are converted into responses that reduce the recipient’s capacity to meet the system’s next requirement. This paper introduces <em>Administrative Escalation Dynamics</em> (AED) as the construct that names this operational mechanism. AED specifies the point at which Acceleration Without Metabolization (AWM), a system-level theory of destabilization under interpretive overrun (Morgan, 2026a), becomes observable in interaction.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">AED identifies a four-stage mechanism: a moderate signal arrives, the system applies a compressed interpretation that reduces context to a binary classification, the system responds with a capacity-reducing intervention, and the resulting capacity loss raises the probability of further signal generation, closing a feedback loop. Ten coded cases drawn from peer-reviewed studies in criminal justice, public benefits, healthcare, credit, education, and workplace administration provide the first cross-domain empirical demonstration.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Across all ten cases, moderate signals were converted into capacity-reducing interventions producing escalation or recurrence rather than stabilization. The cross-domain consistency suggests that escalation is not a property of individual systems but a structural outcome of how administrative architectures process signals once interpretive capacity is exceeded. AED is the operational expression of AWM at the level of interaction. In each case, the cost of escalation falls on the person the system was designed to serve.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Implications for system design, policy, and leadership are discussed. The central inversion is that systems frequently undermine the conditions they require for the outcomes they intend; by the same mechanism, they can preserve rights in form while degrading them in practice.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><strong>Keywords: </strong>Administrative Escalation Dynamics; capacity-reducing intervention; administrative burden; service navigation; signal compression; interpretive capacity; feedback loops; cross-domain mechanism; structural inversion; pretrial detention; Medicaid churn; capabilities approach; street-level bureaucracy; Acceleration Without Metabolization</p> |
| title | When Systems Escalate: A Cross-Domain Account of Capacity Erosion in Administrative Systems |
| topic | Administration Escalation Dynamics capacity-reducing intervention administrative burden service navigation signal compression interpretive capacity feedback loops cross-domain mechanism structural inversion pretrial detention Medicaid churn capabilities approach street-level bureaucracy Acceleration Without Metabolization |
| url | https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20001303 |