Direct answer
What is elite defection?
Elite defection means consequential withdrawal of institutional support—such as resignations, legislative defections, refusal to implement policy, or withdrawal of material cooperation—not criticism or symbolic distance alone.
Evidence boundary
What this answer does not establish
Synthesis of the supplied report corpus; current-sensitive legal/institutional facts require re-verification.
Primary evidence routes
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- Mass Nonviolent Paralysis and Political Transition in the United States — Crisis Model Warning Indicators and Capacity MetricsSource section 1
- Executive Self-Coup or Gradual Internal Institutional Capture: U.S. Institutional-Resilience Assessment — Resilience Failure Mechanisms and Warning IndicatorsSource section 2
- Security-Sector Command Fracture in a U.S. Constitutional Crisis: Cohesion, Lawful Authority, and Sovereignty Risk — Senior Command ResignationsSource section 3
- Contested Succession and Dual Claims to Lawful Federal Authority — Institutional Recognition MapSource section 4
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Built To Resist Research Desk. “What is elite defection?” Built To Resist. Reviewed 2026-10-03. https://builttoresist.com/answers/what-is-elite-defection/