Power vacuum

In political science and political history, the term power vacuum, also known as a power void, or power struggle, is an analogy between a physical vacuum to the political condition "when someone in a place of power, has lost control of something and no one has replaced them." The situation can occur when a government has no identifiable central power or authority, after collapse, retreat with no successor, or inability to govern due to several factors. The term is also often used in organized crime when a crime family becomes vulnerable to competition. Hereditary or statutory order of succession or effective succession planning were common ways to resolve questions of succession to positions of power.