Survivor Governance: Authority Concentration under AI-Driven State Contraction

This working paper introduces Survivor Governance as an emergent political form under conditions of AI-driven state contraction. As artificial intelligence expands governmental capacity while reducing the size of the human administrative apparatus, political authority does not diminish but instead consolidates among a shrinking group of institutionally indispensable human actors. Survivor Governance does not describe technocracy, elite rule, or deliberate institutional design. Rather, it captures a structural asymmetry of AI-enabled governance: while governmental functions can be automated, political authority cannot. Authority therefore accumulates by default among those whose roles remain non-automatable, regardless of their relative competence or suitability for AI-era governance. By focusing on internal institutional transformation rather than democratic decline per se, the paper provides a structural explanation for emerging patterns of authority concentration, declining administrative mobility, and institutional conservatism in contemporary states. The analysis contributes to debates on AI governance, state capacity, and political authority by revealing how power can consolidate without overt authoritarian intent or ideological rupture.