Layered State as Survival Architecture

Some authoritarian regimes deliberately build overlapping, partially redundant centers of power (e.g., parallel militaries, vetted clerical bodies, intertwined business empires) so that street revolts puncture many targets but hit no single decisive node. That maze‑like design makes mass mobilization without a clear, accountable leadership far less likely to produce durable change. — Recognizing layered state architectures shifts policy from hoping for quick uprisings or external decapitations to planning for long‑term, multi‑vector strategies (institutional leverage, targeted defections, and sustained civic capacity building).