Danegeldism: ruling‑class concession bias

Political elites can develop a shared, moralized aversion to defending national interest — a cultural habit that converts guilt or managerial anxiety into systemic policy concessions across unrelated domains (foreign bases, reparations, aid, EU relations, counter‑extremism strategy). Framing those disparate choices as symptoms of one mindset (’Danegeldism’) reveals how a single elite disposition can produce strategic weakness and fuel popular backlash. — If accepted, this frame reframes debates about aid, sovereignty, immigration, and counter‑extremism as governance‑style problems (elite psychology and incentives) rather than isolated policy errors, shifting where reform pressure will land.