Purpose
This category covers failure modes where power concentrates informally inside formal governance structures. These failures typically emerge when authority exists socially or culturally but is not declared, bounded, or reviewable.
Failure Pattern
Communities may appear to have decision processes, but outcomes are shaped by:
- dominance in speaking time,
- founder status,
- charisma,
- or informal subgroups.
Power migrates away from explicit mechanisms into personalities.
Structural Risk
If left unaddressed, these failures lead to:
- erosion of legitimacy,
- disengagement by quieter members,
- and eventual governance collapse or splintering.
These failures are rarely malicious; they emerge from ambiguity.
What Is Being Stress-Tested
- Explicit authority definitions
- Decision traceability
- Reviewability of outcomes
- Supremacy of constitutional rules over individuals
RCOS Expectation
RCOS-compliant systems must ensure that:
- all authority is explicit,
- informal power has no binding effect,
- and decisions made outside defined mechanisms are invalid.
This category tests whether governance is real, not ceremonial.