Cooperative Models

Platform cooperatives face a fundamental design challenge: how do strong individuals strengthen collectives without being consumed by coordination overhead?

This research draws on Elinor Ostrom's design principles for commons governance, Mary Parker Follett's integrative democracy, and lived experience building cooperative infrastructure. We study governance patterns that prevent the two failure modes: tyranny of structurelessness (too little governance) and committee entrenchment (too much).

Key Questions

• How does temporal authority prevent governance capture?
• What role does sortition play in committee formation?
• How do cooperatives scale decision-making without hierarchy?