The Collapse of Multilayer Predation and the Emergence of a Monolithic Leviathan

TL;DR

This paper develops a multilayer recursive game model to show that in the absence of formal rules, hierarchical predation is unstable due to rent dissipation and exponential information-entropy growth across nested layers. To counteract this, the system undergoes an endogenous transition to a monolithic strongman (Monolithic Leviathan) via algorithmic entropy reduction through centralized force, which suppresses middle-layer autonomy and compresses high-dimensional conflict into low-entropy commands. However, while this yields short-term stability, it erodes social evolutionary functions and risks systemic collapse if rule-based governance (the rule of law) is not established. The work links political theory (Hobbesian traps, Leviathan), information theory, and organizational economics to explain the emergence of centralized rule and the potential path to more complex, law-governed order.

Abstract

This paper constructs a multilayer recursive game model to demonstrate that in a rule vacuum environment, hierarchical predatory structures inevitably collapse into a monolithic political strongman system due to the conflict between exponentially growing rent dissipation and the rigidity of bottom-level survival constraints. We propose that the rise of a monolithic political strongman is essentially an "algorithmic entropy reduction" achieved through forceful means by the system to counteract the "informational entropy increase" generated by multilayer agency. However, the order gained at the expense of social complexity results in the stagnation of social evolutionary functions.