ideas-groupDecisionMaking-fluidDemocracy-introStructure

Introduction to the structure of Fluid Democracy

Fluid Democracy is a governance system, that is to say, it is a blueprint for a set of roles, and rules for how those roles interact, that allow a group to efficiently make decisions. It is in the same space as the U.S. Constitution, or the Bylaws for a corporation, and in fact it is formalized as a set of Bylaws that may be used by groups. It is intended for use in groups of any type and any size, from small to large, from informal open projects to corporations to governments.

Terminology

We call a group within the group, like a committee, a "body". The whole group is also called a body when acting according to certain rules.

We will call a proposal that is accepted by the group an "Act".

When multiple bodies must agree in order for a proposal to become an Act, then a proposal which one body has accepted is called a Resolution (a Resolution may or may not become an Act, depending on what the other bodies decide).

On voting

Some groups may want to give each member an equal vote, but others may want to give some members more votes than others. Fluid Democracy works for both of these cases. My recommendation is that groups which are completely optional and voluntary (such as open projects) use unequal votes. The reason is that often some people in such groups are thought to be more knowledgable, and more involved with the project, than others; better decisions may result if those people have more power. If you are going to give some people more voting power than others, I recommend that you use the PieTrust system for deciding how much voting power to give each member.

Voting is done using a simple system called "Score Voting". Score Voting is superior to plurality voting because there is no spoiler effect and because compromise candidates have a better chance of winning. For multi-seat elections, Reweighted Score Voting is used, which is an extension of Score Voting that is better when there are multiple seats up for election. Reweighted Score Voting is a "proportional representation" voting system, which ensures that the Directors will be a diverse, representative sample of the entire group.

Different rules for different group sizes

Fluid Democracy has different sets of rules for different sizes of groups. The rules are simple for small groups, and get more complex as the group gets larger. The rules themselves tell you when to change over. This allows a group to start using the Fluid Democracy rules immediately when they are small, without strangling in bureaucracy, but while being confident that the rules will provide more structure as needed if and when the group grows.

There are three group sizes; Small, Medium, and Large. In groups which give each member one vote, the size is measured in the number of members. In this case, Small means 2 thru 10 people, Medium means 11 thru 80, and Large means 81 or more.

In groups which give different voting power to different members, a formula called "effective size" is used, which allows a group to stay in a small size category whenever there is small number of members who hold most of the votes, even if the total number of members is large.

I'll describe the rules for each group size in turn.



Small groups

Small groups have one body, the Forum, and one official, the Chair.

Bodies

The Forum is a way for members to make proposals and vote on them. All group members can participate in the Forum. It consists of a bulletin board to which any member can post a proposal. Other members can drop by and write "yes" or "no" or "still deciding" below a proposal, and if the proposal gets enough yeses then is passes. Members can also delegate their voting power to other members using proxies.

Officials

The Chair leads the group, administers the procedural rules, and serves as chief executive officer. The Chair is elected periodically for a fixed term. The group can create other officer positions if it feels they are needed.

Summary for small groups

Members vote directly on the issues in the Forum, and they also elect a Chair.


Medium groups

For medium-sized groups, there are three bodies, the Forum, the Board of Directors, and the External Affairs Committee, and three standalone officials, the Chair, the CEOi, and the CEOe.

Bodies

The Forum is the same as for small groups.

The Board of Directors consists of 3 to 7 elected Directors. Like the Forum, the Directors can make proposals, debate them, and vote on them. The Board is elected.

1 to 3 members of the Board of Directors also sit on the External Affairs Committee. External affairs is defined as relationships between the organization and other entities. Matters of external affairs are only discussed and voted on by the External Affairs Committee, not by the whole Board of Directors. The decision of the External Affairs Committee is taken as a decision of the whole Board in matters of external affairs. When electing the Directors, members also rate the suitability of each candidate for external affairs, and these ratings determine which Directors will sit on the External Affairs Committee.

When either the Forum or the Board of Directors passes a proposal ("passes a resolution"), the other body has a chance to veto it. If there is no veto, the proposal becomes an Act. If there is a veto, the proposal fails.

Officials

The Chair still leads the group and administers the procedural rules, but the role of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) is separated into two new roles, CEOi and CEOe. In Medium groups, the same person is allowed to hold both the offices of Chair and CEO. However, the Chair may not also be a Director. The Chair runs meetings of the Board of Directors, but, not being a Director, the Chair does not get to vote in these meetings.

The CEOi is appointed by the Board of Directors and may be replaced by them at any time. The CEOi implements the Acts of the organization.

The Chief Executive Officer, External (CEOe) is like the CEOi except that the CEOe handles external affairs. The CEOe is appointed by the External Affairs Committee. The CEOi is not the boss of the CEOe; the CEOe handles external affairs, and the CEOi handles everything else. The same person is allowed to hold both the offices of CEOi and CEOe.

Summary for medium groups

Members vote directly on the issues in the Forum, and they also elect a Chair, and a Board of Directors.

The Board selects a CEOi, and the External Affairs Committee (made up of Directors) selects an CEOe.

The Board votes on the issues. The Forum and the Board can veto each other, but otherwise operate independently and they can each pass proposals. The Chair runs meetings and administers the procedure, the CEOe executes the Acts of the group with respect to External Affairs, and the CEOi handles everything else.


Large groups

For large-sized groups, there are six bodies, the Forum, the Elect Board, the External Affairs Committee, the Delegate Board, the Court, the Office Of Procedure, plus a large number of a new type of body, the "council". There are also four types of standalone officials, Chairs, the CEOi, the CEOe, and the CEOp.

Bodies

The Forum is the same as for small and medium groups; except that the rules of procedure for Forum discussions now incorporate mechanisms for agenda-setting, in order to prevent too many proposals from being discussed at once.

The Board of Directors, with 7 elected Directors, is renamed the Elect Board, and is otherwise as in Medium groups.

The External Affairs Committee, with 3 of the Directors from the Elect Board, is the same as in Medium groups.

The Operations Committee, with 5 of the Directors from the Elect Board, is similar to the External Affairs Committee, but it handles "operations activities", which are ongoing activites related to the organization's primary purpose.

The Delegate Board consists of up to 7 delegate Directors, and has powers identical to the Elect Board, but its composition is different. Members organize themselves into constituencies. Each member chooses which, if any, constituency to join. Each constituency select a delegate who sits on the Delegate Board. For very large groups, there are intermediate layers of delegates: the delegates form their own constituencies which select their own second-order delegates, and so on, until the delegates of the top level become the Delegate Board. The Delegate Board does not have an External Affairs Committee; unlike Elect Directors, all Delegate Directors vote on matters of external affairs.

When one of the Forum, the Elect Board, or the Delegate Board passes a Resolution, any of the others can veto it. If a Resolution is vetoed, it fails unless the third body chooses to pass the Act.

The Delegate Board and the Elect Board act as one body, called the Combined Board, for the purpose of selecting officiers. The Combined Board selects the CEOi and CEOe and some other officials. The Combined Board may choose to appoint Parliamentarians to run meetings and Judges to settle disputes, forming an Office Of Procedure or a Court. The Combined Board does not serve any other function.

Councils are discussion groups made up of ordinary members. There are many councils. Each council consists of one (possibly indirect) constituent for each Delegate Director. There are many councils. Any member (who is a direct or indirect constituent of a member of the Delegate Board) can request to be placed on a council. Each councils is treated as if it were a single individual in the Forum. A council may take action only when there is a consensus among all members of the council. When there is consensus, a council may create proposals, place tokens on them, vote on them, etc, just like an individual can do in the Forum. 1/3 of the Forum votes are reserved for the councils and divided up between them. In this way, members are rewarded for serving on councils and for coming to consensus with bonus voting power. If there are intermediate layers of delegates, each layer has its own set of councils.

Officials

There are now three Chairs, not just one. Now Chairs may not also be CEOis or CEOes. Parliamentarians and Judges may take over the jobs of running meetings, administering the Bylaws, and arbitrating disputes, but if less than three Parliamentarians or Judges are appointed, then the Chairs continue to fill these roles. The Chairs' primary duties are making sure that the rights of the members are protected, and making sure that the Bylaws are followed. The Chairs retain powers of oversight. Any Chair, acting individually, may always collect information and may prosecute any member for disregard of the rules, and two Chairs acting together may pardon a member who has been convicted by the Court. The middle and senior Chairs have special roles. The middle Chair advises members, takes member complaints, and attempts to mediate disputes. The seniormost Chair is the leader of the organization.

Any CEO may each nominate up to 3 executive officers to serve under them until dismissed. Nominees must be confirmed by the Combined Board.

The CEOe's role is the same as in Medium groups. The CEOp handles a program activity. The CEOi handles everything else. One person may fill the roles of multiple CEOs simultaneously.

The CEOs are appointed by the Combined Board, with the External Affairs Committee (3 members) and the Program Committee (5 members) representing the Elect Board for the selection of the CEOe and CEOp, respectively.

Chairs, Directors, Judges and Parliamentarians have term limits in Large groups.

Summary for large groups

Members elect 3 Chairs. The Chairs oversee the group.

Members vote directly on the issues in the Forum.

Members also elect an Elect Board with 7 Directors. Only the External Affairs Committee can vote on matters of external affairs.

Members form constituencies, which select delegates. In very large groups, these delegates form their own constituencies and select second-order delegates. The top layer of delegates forms the Delegate Board, with up to 7 members and powers identical to the Elect Board. All members of the Delegate Board can vote on matters of external affairs.

Each Board meets independently and votes on the issues. The Forum and each of the Boards can veto each other, but two of them acting together can overcome the veto of the third.

The sum of the Elect Board and the Delegate Board is called the Combined Board. The Combined Board selects a CEOi and an CEOe.

The CEOe executes the Acts of the group with respect to External Affairs, and the CEOi handles everything else. The CEOi may nominates executive officers and the Combined Board confirms them.

The Combined Board may choose to appoint Parliamentarians to run meetings and Judges to settle disputes. Otherwise, the Chairs fill these roles.

Members can participate in small discussion groups called "councils". Councils are constructed so as to make it likely that their membership represents a wide spectrum of political view. Councils have Forum votes, but a council's vote is only exercised when all members of a council agree.


For more details, see A closer look at the structure of Fluid Democracy.