**Description**: The Constitution is the Alliance's foundational governance document that articulates identity, structure, roles, and protocols—serving as both social contract and operational manual. **Purpose**: - Define the Alliance's identity and purpose - Establish governance structures and processes - Clarify roles and responsibilities - Document protocols for key activities - Provide coherence and legitimacy - Enable coordination at scale **Structure**: The Constitution is organized into three primary sections: ### 1. Identity Foundational elements defining who we are: - [[Purpose]] - Why we exist - [[Mission]] - What we do - [[Vision]] - The future we seek - [[Values]] - What we stand for - [[Worldview]] - Our philosophical foundation - [[Mandates]] - Core activities and boundaries ### 2. Structure Organizational components and assets: - **Assets**: Resources stewarded by the Alliance - **Membranes**: Boundaries and coordinating bodies - **Roles**: Containers of responsibility and authority - **Components**: Conceptual building blocks ### 3. Protocols Operational processes and procedures: - Governance and decision-making - Asset stewardship - Role fulfillment - Cultural practices - Conflict resolution **Constitutional Principles**: - **Light Touch**: Governance sufficient for coherence without bureaucratic overhead - **Social Contract**: Emphasis on shared agreements over rigid enforcement - **Living Document**: Evolves through careful deliberation and community consent - **Transparent**: All changes publicly documented with clear rationale - **Accessible**: Written to be understood by all community members - **Practical**: Focused on enabling coordination, not theoretical perfection **Amendment Process**: 1. **Proposal**: Any member can propose constitutional amendments 2. **Discussion**: Extended deliberation period in [[Governance Forum]] 3. **Advice Process**: Broad solicitation of community input 4. **Steward Review**: Evaluation for internal consistency and alignment 5. **Community Consent**: Significant changes require broad agreement 6. **Documentation**: All amendments recorded with rationale and date 7. **Version Control**: Clear versioning and change history **Governance of Governance**: The Constitution itself is governed by: - Higher bar for changes to Identity section (core must remain stable) - Moderate bar for changes to Structure (adaptable to organizational needs) - Lower bar for changes to Protocols (responsive to operational learning) - Emergency amendments possible but require retrospective validation - Regular review cycles to ensure continued relevance **Interpretation**: - Steward Council holds interpretive authority - Disputes resolved through [[Conflict Transformation Protocol]] - Community can challenge interpretations through formal process - Precedents documented for consistency **Relationship to Law**: - Functions primarily as social contract - Not a legal entity constitution (unless legal structure adopted) - Guides but does not replace applicable law - Can inform legal agreements if formalized