Glossary
This glossary provides definitions for key terms used throughout the Global Governance Framework. Each term includes a category emoji to help identify its primary domain. Use the filters below to explore terms by category.
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A
Adaptive Evaluation ๐
A real-time assessment method that evolves alongside projects, prioritizing learning over static metrics.
Example in context
A climate resilience program uses adaptive evaluation to adjust its indicators as community understanding of resilience evolves through implementation.
C
Consciousness-Informed Governance โจ
Governance approaches that explicitly incorporate awareness practices, inner development, and consciousness exploration into their structures and processes.
Example in context
Bhutan's Gross National Happiness Commission includes meditation practitioners who evaluate policy impacts on mental well-being and consciousness development alongside material metrics.
Contemplative Governance ๐ง
Decision-making processes that integrate periods of silence, reflection, and contemplative practice to enhance wisdom, reduce reactivity, and access deeper collective intelligence.
Example in context
The Montreal Climate Council begins each meeting with a shared contemplative practice and includes structured silence before critical decisions, reporting improved outcomes and reduced polarization.
Cosmic Commons ๐
The shared heritage of cosmic resources and environments, governed as a commons for the benefit of all humanity rather than being subject to national or corporate appropriation.
Example in context
The Outer Space Treaty established the Moon and other celestial bodies as cosmic commons, declaring that exploration and use 'shall be carried out for the benefit and in the interests of all countries' and not subject to national appropriation.
Cosmo-Local Production ๐
Economic model where knowledge, designs, and expertise are shared globally while physical production remains local, combining the efficiency of global coordination with the resilience of distributed manufacturing.
Example in context
The OSPRI (Open Source Pandemic Response Initiative) shares globally-developed ventilator designs that can be locally manufactured using available materials and adapted to local contexts during health emergencies.
D
Digital Commons ๐ป
Collectively managed digital resources that are governed as shared assets rather than private property, ensuring equitable access, participatory development, and protection from enclosure or monopolization.
Example in context
The Linux operating system represents a digital commons, developed and maintained by a global community with governance structures ensuring it remains freely available while evolving through distributed contribution.
E
Epistemic Justice ๐ง
Fair recognition of diverse knowledge systems and ways of knowing, ensuring that no single epistemology (Western, scientific, etc.) dominates governance frameworks to the exclusion of others.
Example in context
The Arctic Council incorporates both scientific research and Indigenous oral histories as equally valid sources of knowledge in climate policy deliberations.
G
Gamified Feedback Loops ๐ฎ
Definition not found for Gamified Feedback Loops
Example in context
Example not found for Gamified Feedback Loops
Governance Sandboxes ๐งช
Protected spaces where innovative governance approaches can be tested with relaxed regulatory constraints but heightened monitoring, allowing experimentation while containing potential harms.
Example in context
Finland's AI Governance Sandbox allows municipalities to test new algorithmic decision systems under close ethical oversight but with temporary exemptions from certain regulatory requirements.
H
Human-in-the-Loop ๐ค
Ensuring humans retain final authority over AI-assisted decisions, especially in governance contexts.
Example in context
The city's planning department uses AI to generate zoning recommendations, but requires human planners to review and approve all suggestions before implementation.
I
Intergenerational Trusteeship โณ
Governance structures that formally represent the interests of future generations in current decision-making, ensuring long-term impacts are prioritized alongside present concerns.
Example in context
Wales' Future Generations Commissioner has legal authority to review policies for their impact on generations not yet born, with the power to require changes to protect their interests.
Interoperability APIs ๐
Technical standards enabling governance tools to share data across platforms and jurisdictions.
Example in context
The regional climate initiative created APIs that allow different cities' environmental monitoring systems to share data seamlessly, despite using different software.
L
Legitimacy Recognition Systems โ๏ธ
Public ratings and certification systems assessing governance alignment with shared values and ethical principles.
Example in context
The Global Indigenous Council developed a recognition system that rates government policies based on their respect for traditional knowledge and self-determination.
M
Meta-Governance ๐
Frameworks for coordinating governance systems across domains, jurisdictions, and levels to enable collaboration without centralization.
Example in context
The Baltic Sea Commission established meta-governance protocols that allow eight countries to coordinate environmental protection while maintaining their unique governance systems.
N
Nested Legitimacy ๐๏ธ
A condition where local decisions align with broader governance frameworks without coercion, maintaining autonomy while ensuring compatibility.
Example in context
Indigenous forest management practices were recognized as legitimate within national conservation frameworks, allowing communities to maintain traditional governance while fulfilling broader sustainability goals.
Non-Linear Decision Protocols ๐
Governance approaches that operate through cyclical, relational, or recursive processes rather than linear progression, often based on Indigenous or non-Western decision traditions.
Example in context
The Haudenosaunee Confederacy's consensus process involves multiple cycles of proposal, deliberation, and consultation with home communities before decisions are finalized, contrasting with Western parliamentary voting sequences.
Non-Terrestrial Governance ๐ฐ๏ธ
Governance systems designed for space environments, satellites, or planetary settlements that operate outside Earth's jurisdictions while maintaining alignment with core ethical principles.
Example in context
The Mars Settlement Charter established a rotational council with members from all habitat domes, creating a non-terrestrial governance model adapted to the unique constraints and needs of Martian settlements.
P
Participatory Budgeting ๐ฐ
Processes enabling communities to directly allocate portions of public funds through democratic deliberation and voting.
Example in context
Porto Alegre, Brazil pioneered participatory budgeting where citizens collectively decide how to spend 20% of the municipal infrastructure budget through neighborhood assemblies and city-wide votes.
Pluriversal Governance ๐
Governance approaches that recognize multiple valid worldviews and ontologies, enabling different civilizational perspectives to coexist and collaborate without requiring assimilation to a single dominant framework.
Example in context
New Zealand's legal recognition of the Whanganui River as a legal person with rights represents a pluriversal approach that incorporates Mฤori understandings of nature alongside Western legal concepts.
Polycentric Coordination ๐ธ๏ธ
Governance structures with multiple independent but overlapping centers of decision-making, enabling both autonomy and coordination across different scales and domains without requiring central control.
Example in context
Water management in the Netherlands operates through polycentric coordination, with local water boards, regional authorities, national agencies, and EU frameworks all governing different aspects of water systems while maintaining coherence through coordination mechanisms.
R
Reflexive Cycle ๐
Structured self-assessment processes with audit trails, ensuring governance systems continuously learn and improve from their operations.
Example in context
The Urban Climate Alliance built quarterly reflexive cycles into their governance, documenting decisions, outcomes, and lessons learned to improve future policy-making.
T
Transgenerational KPIs โณ
Metrics and indicators designed to evaluate the long-term impacts of current decisions on future generations and planetary health.
Example in context
The Finnish Parliament established transgenerational KPIs for all major infrastructure projects, requiring assessment of impacts over 100-year timeframes.
V
Value-Sensitive Design โค๏ธ
Methodologies for embedding ethical principles and human values directly into the development of technologies and governance systems.
Example in context
The public health data system was developed using value-sensitive design to ensure privacy, equity, and accessibility were built into its architecture, not added as afterthoughts.
Y
Youth-Led Design ๐ง
Governance tools and processes co-created by young people, ensuring intergenerational perspectives shape systems that will affect their futures.
Example in context
Finland's Climate Council includes a Youth Panel with decision-making authority that co-designs climate policies alongside traditional experts and government officials.
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