About Governance Ecologies

Our Mission

Governance Ecologies is a scholarly project dedicated to excavating, documenting, and learning from diverse governance practices throughout human history. Our mission is to expand the imagination of what governance can be by exploring historical alternatives to dominant contemporary models.

Why Governance Ecologies?

Just as archaeological excavations uncover the material artifacts of past civilizations, our project unearths the institutional, cultural, and philosophical technologies that humans have used to govern themselves across time and space. These “governance artifacts” offer valuable insights that can inform how we address pressing challenges today.

By exploring governance diversity across cultures and eras, we aim to:

1. Challenge the notion that current governance systems are inevitable or optimal
2. Recover lost knowledge about alternative approaches to common problems
3. Inspire innovations in contemporary governance design
4. Promote cross-cultural and historical understanding of collective decision-making

Our Team

Our interdisciplinary team brings together scholars from history, anthropology, political science, philosophy, and related fields, alongside practitioners with experience in various governance contexts.

Join Us

We welcome collaboration with researchers, institutions, and practitioners interested in exploring the rich diversity of human governance systems. Please contact us to learn more about opportunities for involvement.