Loss of self occurs through unguarded assent, not mere proximity.

Two models. One cycle. Different instruments measuring the same system. 📈 Imperial / Hegemonic Cycle 👥 Strauss–Howe Four Turnings When you put them side by side, the first thing that stands out is this: they mostly converge. 🔁 •Both models describe the same arc: •Build-out of institutions and capacity. •Peak coordination and confidence. •Overreach, concentration, and inequality. •Loss of cohesion and credibility. •Reset and reconstitution. Mapped together (post-WWII example): Rise / High → strong institutions, trust, growth 🏗️ Awakening → cultural challenge, values shift 🌱 Unraveling → financialisation, hollowing out 💰 Crisis → legitimacy collapse, forced reset ⚠️ This alignment is not accidental. Empires do not decline without generational crisis, and generational crises do not emerge without structural exhaustion. 🔍 Why they can look different (but aren’t) The apparent difference is not trajectory — it’s measurement: Imperial cycle tracks hard variables: debt, productivity, competitiveness, currency status 📊 Fourth Turning tracks soft variables: trust, legitimacy, moral authority, generational mood 🧠 One reads the balance sheet. The other reads the collective nervous system. 🧠 The key insight (this is the crux) Legitimacy precedes solvency. People stop believing in the system before the system stops functioning. Cultural fracture comes before fiscal crisis. Loss of trust comes before loss of currency dominance. Refusal to consent comes before inability to pay. The Fourth Turning is therefore not a separate process — it is the early internal phase of late-stage imperial decline. Bottom line: 📊 Imperial cycles explain when systems fail materially. 🔥 Fourth Turnings explain when societies withdraw legitimacy. Different instruments. Same system. Legitimacy always breaks before solvency does.