Post Hoc Governance as a Structural Anti-Pattern

This paper identifies post hoc governance as a structural anti-pattern in socio-technical systems that execute under uncertainty. Post hoc governance refers to the application of oversight, audit, ethical review, or accountability mechanisms only after execution has occurred and outcomes are known. The paper argues that post hoc governance is not a weaker form of governance, but a categorical failure of governance altogether. Where authority is not operative at decision boundaries prior to execution, downstream review cannot prevent escalation, optimisation beyond authority, or harm. The paper formalises post hoc governance as a compensatory response to missing admissibility conditions and shows why such responses reliably fail to stabilise systems. The contribution is a negative result: demonstrating that no amount of retrospective governance can substitute for ex ante authority allocation.