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The cumulative decline of authority capacity through repeated unbuffered exposure to pressure. Each episode where judgment is deferred, substituted, or avoided weakens the institution's future ability to decide. Unlike legitimacy, authority capacity does not automatically regenerate—it follows a ratchet dynamic, declining stepwise without deliberate intervention.
A university that reverses decisions under pressure trains its environment that judgment is negotiable. Future challenges arrive earlier and louder. What was once exceptional becomes expected. Capacity depletes even if each individual decision was 'reasonable.'
ACIJ Section 3.2