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Domain Glossary & Ubiquitous Language

This glossary defines the core domain concepts of Swayrm to maintain strict semantic consistency across human contributors, software architecture, and AI agents.

Core Entities & Concepts

  • Citizen Group: A collective of individuals self-organizing around shared geographic vicinity, lived conditions, community needs, or common civic objectives.
  • Swarm: A fluid, decentralized grouping of actors acting in concert. Swarms can assemble rapidly, adapt their structure, fork, merge, or dissolve without centralized top-down authorization.
  • Circle: A bounded working unit or sub-team within a swarm, dedicated to a specific domain or responsibility (inspired by Sociocracy).
  • Subsidiarity: The principle that issues should be handled by the smallest, lowest, or least centralized competent authority. In Swayrm, higher-level federations only address matters that cannot be resolved at the local circle/swarm level.
  • Deliberation: The structured, civil process of exploring an issue, gathering perspectives, evaluating arguments, and synthesizing options before making a decision.
  • Proposal: A concrete, actionable initiative put forward for collective consideration and decision within a swarm or circle.
  • Decision Engine: The configurable governance mechanism used by a group to resolve a proposal (e.g., Consent, Consensus, Liquid Democracy, Quadratic Voting, Majority).
  • Consent: A decision rule where a proposal is approved if no member has a reasoned, paramount objection that threatens the group's integrity or purpose ("good enough for now, safe enough to try").
  • Liquid Delegation (Liquid Democracy): A hybrid democratic mechanism allowing members to either vote directly on issues or transitively delegate their voice to a trusted peer on specific topics.
  • Initiative / Action: The concrete real-world execution artifact spawned by an approved decision, including tasks, milestones, and assigned responsibilities.
  • Treasury / Mutual Pool: A transparent, collectively governed resource or fund pool used to finance group initiatives.