# lame duck (ending)

*Ordinarily means:* an official in the last part of a term, after a successor is known

Power whose end others already model, so the walls it sets stop holding before the power itself ends.

- Computed level: L16 (depth in the emergence graph, not abstraction)
- Status: published  ·  Domain: agency

## Emergence
**Emerges from:** [power](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-power.over), [model](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-model.representation), [others](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-others.distinct-entities), [set](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-set.fix), [wall](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-wall.range-end), [stop](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-stop.action), [hold](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-hold.physical), [already](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-already.temporal), [time](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-time.dimension), [change](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-change.process)

**Through:** Power's walls hold partly because others expect them to keep holding; once others' models place the end, they plan past it, and the walls weaken on the model's schedule rather than the power's.

**Novel properties:**
- power that ends in others' models first
- a known end date as a force on the present
- walls that depend on expected duration

## Examples
- US presidents between a November election and the January inauguration find allies and agencies already working to the successor's plans. *(politics)*

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*Canonical: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-lame-duck.ending*  
*Structured data: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-lame-duck.ending.json*  
*Every definition provably resolves to space, time, energy and pattern.*