Definition
A governance discipline centered on authority grants, jurisdictional boundaries, error-bearing standing, and enforceable recourse, contrasted with behavioral alignment. While alignment asks whether an automated system intends what its creators intend, constitutional governance asks what authority the system holds, what happens when it is wrong or incomplete, and who has the standing to compel correction.
Constitutional governance recognizes that authority cannot be sustained by the absence of observed failure, that evidence and authority must remain coupled, and that the politics of any system are revealed by the rights it grants at the point of model failure.
Scale: Systemic · Phases: Design, Deployment, Audit · Measurability: Qualitative · Maturity: Core concept
Adjacent terms
References
- Laws for engineering delegated intelligence · Doctrine
- STD-02 — Contestability & Recourse · Standard