Comprehensive Theory of Self-Determination
Support
Governance as design of conditions
Self-determination-based governance does not begin with an order. It begins with the question of what conditions are needed for persons, communities, and institutions to understand the situation, orient themselves, participate, and carry responsibility.
Subjecthood as a governance criterion
Every governance decision is examined by what it does to civic subjecthood: does it open orientation, participation, and agency, or deepen dependence, uncertainty, and passivity? Efficiency matters, but it cannot replace the criterion of preserving subjecthood.
Transparency and intelligible decisions
A state decision is republican when the citizen can understand its reasoning, consequences, risks, and responsible institution. Transparency is not only publishing documents; it is the ability to explain decision logic in public language and keep it open to public scrutiny.
Participatory formation
Self-determination-based governance is not limited to informing the public about ready-made decisions. It creates forms of participation in which citizens, communities, professional groups, and institutions can join not only discussion of solutions, but also formulation of the problem.
Accountability and the chain of responsibility
The quality of governance becomes visible when responsibility is not lost in procedures, commissions, or anonymous systems. Every policy direction should have a clear responsible actor, explainable decision, measurable consequence, and public oversight.
Data, measurement, and human judgment
Modern governance cannot work without data and measurement, but measurement must not replace judgment. Self-determination-based governance uses data to make public problems visible, assess consequences, and reduce manipulation, not to turn people into statistical objects.
Strategic continuity
A self-determination-based republic cannot act only through short-term reactions. Governance must connect current decisions to a long-term national and public future without imposing a single closed meaning or ideology on society.
From administration to republican governance
Ordinary administration asks how to execute a task quickly. Self-determination-based governance also asks whether that task expands the capability of citizens and society. This difference turns governance into infrastructure for republican self-determination.