Polycentric Governance

Governance through multiple, overlapping decision centers rather than a single hierarchy — nested subsystems with distributed authority.

Elinor Ostrom’s research showed that polycentric systems often outperform centralized or purely decentralized alternatives for managing common-pool resources. Multiple centers can experiment, adapt, and provide mutual checks.

Systems Connection

Polycentricity applies the subsystem concept to governance: decision-making authority is distributed across nested, semi-autonomous units. Each center responds to local feedback while operating within broader frameworks. The emergent result is adaptive capacity that neither pure hierarchy nor pure anarchy achieves.

See Also

• Political Economy — parent domain
• Governance — what polycentric systems do
• Subsystem — the structural principle