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Nathan Schneider
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# Modular Politics for Minetest
Modular Politics is an extension that enables diverse governance processes on multi-user platforms. It seeks to implement a theoretical framework, also called [Modular Politics](https://metagov.org/modpol), which proposes these design goals:
Modular Politics is an extension that enables diverse governance processes on multi-user platforms. It offers a library that enables users to create or adapt their own modules that add specific governance functionalities.
This implementation is a mod for [Minetest](https://minetest.net), a free/open-source voxel game. It is designed to be easily adapted to other multi-user platforms that also employ Lua as an extension language.
## Design philosophy
Modular Politics seeks to implement a theoretical framework, also called "[modular politics](https://metagov.org/modpol)," which proposes these design goals:
* *Modularity*: Platform operators and community members should have the ability to construct systems by creating, importing, and arranging composable parts together as a coherent whole.
* *Expressiveness*: The governance layer should be able to implement as wide a range of processes as possible.
* *Portability*: Governance tools developed for one platform should be portable to another platform for reuse and adaptation.
* *Interoperability*: Governance systems operating on different platforms and protocols should have the ability to interact with each other, sharing data and influencing each other's processes.
Modular Politics produces a library that enables users to create or adapt their own modules that add specific governance functionalities.
Additionally, Modular Politics seeks to counteract the tendency for "[implicit feudalism](https://ntnsndr.in/ImplicitFeudalism)," according to which rigid, top-down power structures are the norm in online spaces. To this end, some design patterns include:
This implementation is a mod for [Minetest](https://minetest.net), a free/open-source voxel game. It is designed to be easily adapted to other multi-user platforms that also employ Lua as an extension language.
* *Groups, not roles*: While most platforms assign powers through particular permissions given to individuals, in Modular Politics, power lies in groups (which Modular Politics calls "orgs").
* *Consent, not oligarchy*: Rather than assuming that decisions will be made by a few power-holders, the software assumes that consent by all affected users is the norm.
* *Inheritance, not blank slates*: When a new group is formed, it inherits the patterns of what preceded it, rather than imagining that it is starting from scratch.
It is certainly possible to use Modular Politics to replicate practices of implicit feudalism, such as all-powerful admins, but doing so requires extra work to overcome these defaults.
## Installation in Minetest
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## Credits
Initiated by [Nathan Schneider](https://nathanschneider.info) of the [Media Enterprise Design Lab](https://colorado.edu/lab/medlab) at the University of Colorado Boulder, as part of the [Metagovernance Project](https://metagov.org). Based on the paper "[Modular Politics: Toward a Governance Layer for Online Communities](https://metagov.org/modpol)."
This project is led by [Nathan Schneider](https://nathanschneider.info) of the [Media Enterprise Design Lab](https://colorado.edu/lab/medlab) at the University of Colorado Boulder, as part of the [Metagovernance Project](https://metagov.org).
Other contributors include:
Contributors include:
* [Luke Miller](https://gitlab.com/lukvmil) (main control flow, object orientation, module spec)
* [MisterE](https://gitlab.com/gbrrudmin) (project refactoring, core feature development)
* [Luke Miller](https://gitlab.com/lukvmil) (co-leadership, main control flow, object orientation, module spec)
* [MisterE](https://gitlab.com/gbrrudmin) (early project refactoring, core feature development)
* Robert Kiraly [[OldCoder](https://github.com/oldcoder/)] (ocutils.lua, storage-local.lua, project refactoring)
* Skylar Hew (documentation)