Registration Depth, Monarchy, and Class: England and the Temporal Foundations of State Continuity

This article advances Registration Regime Theory (RRT) by introducing the concept of registration depth as a key determinant of long-term political continuity. Using England as a central case, the study argues that durable political order emerges from cumulative layers of registration practices that stabilize class structures, authority, and property relations across time. England’s relative stability is explained through three mechanisms: the preservation of sacral-monarchical continuity, the adaptive absorption of emerging elites, and the sedimentation of legal and financial infrastructures. A comparative perspective including France and Russia demonstrates that insufficient registration depth and rigid elite structures generate recurrent rupture. The article concludes by situating algorithmic governance within this long temporal trajectory, raising questions about resilience and temporal fragility in the digital age.