Institutional Lifecycles of Power: A Descriptive Analytical Framework for Governance at Capability Thresholds

Abstract This paper introduces a descriptive analytical framework for examining recurring institutional response patterns to emerging technological capability under governance strain. Synthesizing research from institutional theory, legitimacy studies, socio-technical systems analysis, and scholarship on emotional and invisible labor, the framework formalizes a twelve-phase institutional lifecycle describing dynamics that arise when technological deployment outpaces governance capacity. The model is non-deterministic and non-prescriptive. It provides a structured vocabulary for situating institutional conditions, mapping observable governance signals, and supporting comparative analysis across sectors and historical contexts. The contribution of this work lies in integrating multiple research traditions into a single analytical reference for analyzing how institutional stress accumulates and reappears across technological cycles. This version supersedes earlier exploratory drafts and represents the consolidated analytical form of the framework.