Governing itself erodes the cohesion that made a group fit to rule.

Evidence

Once they are there, and this of course is the best known part of Ibn Khaldun’s theory, they gradually lose that very cohesion they acquired when they were ungoverned, and which enabled them to rule. In his schematized version, this takes about three or four generations. They lose it in the process of governing and of benefiting from the privileges of government. — Diego Gambetta, Trust - Making and Breaking Cooperative…, 1985

Categorization

• XREF: Parallels the reader’s Hardin frame: gaining privilege changes the incentive structure of opportunism — cohesion decays once observable constraints no longer bind rulers. — connects to: Reliance on litigation eroded the community’s own organizing capacity. — Luke W. Cole and Sheila R. Foster, From the Ground Up: Environmental…, 487
• ADDENDUM: Resonates with the sacrifice article — rotating sacrificial kingship and rotating tribal rulers share a structural logic of prestige that consumes its holders.