Modular Politics presents a comprehensive vision for digital governance that moves beyond platform-specific approaches toward interoperable, composable governance systems. Developed by a multidisciplinary team of researchers including Nathan Schneider and Primavera De Filippi, this framework proposes creating a governance layer for online communities that allows them to mix and match governance components across different platforms and contexts. The paper outlines both the theoretical foundations and practical design considerations for implementing modular governance systems.
Key Highlights
- Governance Composability: The framework introduces the concept of governance as modular components that can be combined like building blocks, allowing communities to create customized governance systems by selecting, configuring, and arranging various governance elements.
- Cross-Platform Interoperability: Modular Politics challenges platform-specific governance by proposing standards that allow governance tools and processes to operate across different platforms and protocols, reducing lock-in and enabling wider experimentation.
- Core Design Goals: The framework articulates four key objectives: modularity (enabling component-based construction), expressiveness (supporting diverse governance processes), portability (allowing reuse across platforms), and interoperability (facilitating interaction between governance systems).
- Structural Design Elements: The paper outlines structural elements including Instances (operational environments), Orgs (governance units), Modules (functional components), Monitors (data analytics), Permissions (access controls), Resources (governed assets), and Entities (participants) that together form a comprehensive governance ecosystem.
- Evolutionary Approach: Rather than proposing a single governance solution, Modular Politics embraces an evolutionary perspective where governance systems can adapt and evolve based on community needs, technological developments, and changing contexts.
Practical Applications
The Modular Politics framework can be applied in various contexts:
- Enabling DAO communities to experiment with multiple governance approaches without rebuilding their entire infrastructure
- Creating governance “libraries” where successful governance patterns can be documented, shared, and reused across different communities
- Developing middleware that allows governance processes to span multiple platforms (e.g., proposal discussions on one platform with voting executed on another)
- Supporting “governance portability” when communities need to migrate between platforms or protocols
- Facilitating research on governance effectiveness by enabling controlled comparison of different governance modules within similar communities
The framework is particularly valuable for communities that need to adapt their governance as they grow or as their context changes, offering a path to governance evolution without disruptive complete rewrites.
Connection With SuperBenefit
- Directly aligns with SuperBenefit’s DAO Primitives approach, viewing organizational structures as composed of fundamental building blocks that can be recombined for different contexts.
- Supports SuperBenefit’s commitment to context-specific governance rather than one-size-fits-all solutions through its emphasis on composability.
- Addresses a critical need identified in SuperBenefit’s work on anticapture mechanisms by enabling communities to maintain governance sovereignty even when underlying technical infrastructure changes.
- Complements SuperBenefit’s cosmolocal approach by enabling local governance customization while maintaining connections to broader governance commons and shared practices.