The Long Inscription: From Sacred Legitimacy to Algorithmic Authority – Registration Regime Theory and the Historical Ontology of Digital Power

This article advances Registration Regime Theory (RRT) by developing a historical ontology of power grounded in the continuity of registration rather than technological rupture. It argues that contemporary algorithmic governance represents an intensification of bureaucratic modernity rather than a radical break. Digital infrastructures convert accumulated institutional sediment into real-time operational regimes. The article introduces the concepts of the Pre-Registered Subject and Archival Pre-conditioning to explain the rapid normalization of algorithmic decision-making. It proposes a three-stage model of registration regimes: sacred inscription, secular fixation, and algorithmic operationalization. By situating digital power within the longue durée of inscription, the study offers a new framework for understanding sovereignty, legitimacy, and crisis in the digital age.