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Governance Axioms

TalkEric Alston
researcheracademic
Governance Axioms
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Eric Alston presents a framework of five recurring 'governance axioms' for protocol design—incomplete rules, governance-as-conflict, mechanical concentration of authority, asymmetric incentives from shared resources, and the transparency-privacy tradeoff—arguing these tensions can never be designed away, only managed through mechanisms like killswitches, veto-gates, and tiered amendment rules. Drawing on his experience advising Cardano's constitution, DAOs, and peace processes, Alston contends that 'incomplete rules' mean norms and discretion inevitably fill gaps left by any formally encoded protocol, and that durable systems require 'dynamic fidelity'—credible commitments combined with constrained capacity for adaptation rather than either permanent rigidity or unchecked flux.

Topics

concentrated-vs-diffuse-incentivesdynamic-fidelitygovernancegovernance-axiomsincomplete-ruleskillswitch-protocolsorganizationsprotocolssymposium-2026

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