The Ecological Competition and Cognitive Compression Mechanisms of Institutional Models

This project proposes a structural-cognitive theory of institutional evolution based on ecological competition and cognitive compression. Institutions are conceptualized as cognitively embedded models that survive not through optimal design, but by balancing three evolutionary pressures: cognitive compressibility, behavioral mobilization, and structural embeddedness. The study introduces two core analytical tools: the Institutional Niche–Cognitive Compression Matrix and the Institutional Fitness Triangle, formalizing how institutions compete, replicate, and collapse under bounded rationality and structural tension. Case studies—including Confucian–Legalist fusion in imperial China, church–republic bifurcation in medieval Europe, and the Soviet regime’s symbolic collapse—illustrate how institutions succeed or fail based on their ability to balance symbolic coherence, feedback capacity, and ecological fit. The project concludes with future directions for cognitively tractable institutional design, especially in AI governance, redundancy-tolerant architectures, and pluralistic governance systems.