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Governance

Governance is a first-class Citizen concept. All significant protocol changes - namespace creation, policy updates, validator admission - flow through the governance system.

Governance Lifecycle

Proposal → Voting Period → Quorum Check → Activation

1. Proposal

Any authorized participant can submit a governance proposal. Proposals include:

  • Type - namespace creation, policy update, validator admission, parameter change
  • Payload - the specific change being proposed
  • Voting period - how long the vote remains open

2. Voting

Validators cast votes during the voting period. Each validator gets one vote. Votes are signed and recorded on-chain.

3. Quorum Check

After the voting period closes, the governance engine evaluates:

  • Participation quorum - minimum percentage of validators that must vote
  • Approval quorum - minimum percentage of yes-votes among cast votes

If both thresholds are met, the proposal passes.

4. Activation

Passed proposals activate according to their type:

  • Namespace creation - the new namespace is created with the proposed configuration
  • Policy updates - namespace policies are updated
  • Validator admission - the new validator is admitted to the consensus set
  • Parameter changes - protocol parameters are updated

Namespace Activation Readiness

Before a namespace becomes active, the governance engine validates its readiness:

  • Required policies are configured
  • Admission criteria are met
  • Signature scheme is valid
  • No conflicting namespace exists

Governance Charter

The project includes a formal governance charter (see citizen-protocol/docs/GOVERNANCE_CHARTER_V1.md) that defines:

  • Participant roles and permissions
  • Proposal types and their requirements
  • Voting periods and quorum thresholds
  • Dispute resolution procedures
  • Charter amendment process