Saga in a Nutshell: Governance Model

In the last installment of Saga in a nutshell, we lifted the curtain on Saga’s proprietary monetary model, which you can read more about here. For Saga's vision of a truly global, democratically-governed currency to bear fruit, there are three further principles to consider. Today we turn our attention to Governance.

The most fundamental premise of Saga’s governance is that SGA holders are sovereign. This a key differentiator between Saga and fiat currencies. In this post, we will explain how we turned democratic decision making - one of our key principles - into a functioning practice.

Exploring Saga’s governance model

In order to strike the necessary balance between democratic representation of sovereign holders and effective, dynamic decision-making, Saga’s governance model uses a combination of both centralized and decentralized decision-making mechanisms. The system’s design is detailed in this governance model, and is legally substantiated in a constitutional document.

Saga’s governance is based on a multi-branch structure: currency holders are Participants, and they exercise their sovereignty through elections to the central executive body — the Executive Council, and through participation in the system’s deliberative body — the Assembly. This approach ensures the necessary checks and balances are in place to maintain true holder sovereignty.

The Executive Council is the main executive entity in Saga’s governance system. Designed in the spirit of a corporation’s lean managerial body, the council is comprised of a team of elected professionals, which should enable efficient and swift decision making when it comes to the management of Saga’s operation and the wider ecosystem.

The council is directly elected by holders and voting power is determined through democonomy voting, a method developed by Saga to dynamically balance stake-based (where a higher stake translates into larger voting power) and participant-based (one vote per participant) voting.

The Assembly is the deliberative entity where Saga’s participants can voice their opinions and make collective decisions. It is highly decentralized, as Participants can choose to either represent themselves in the Assembly or appoint a delegate, i.e. Assembly Member, to vote on their behalf. Voting in the Assembly follows the ‘one participant — one vote’ principle so each Assembly Member‘s voting power is equal to the number of participants that have chosen him to be their delegate. What’s more, the Assembly has supervisory powers over and serves to counterbalance the powers of the Foundation Council and the Monetary Committee, detailed below.

The Monetary Committee is responsible for the long term stability and monetary soundness of the Saga currency. It is authorized to determine Saga’s monetary policy and its implementation as a smart contract. An ad-hoc Appointment Committee is responsible for electing Monetary Committee members. The Appointment Committee includes representatives from the Assembly, the Foundation Council, and incumbent members of the Monetary Committee, promoting expertise-based selection of candidates while maintaining the Participants’ representation.

The Constitutional Council is the mandatory arbitration entity for dealing with disputes between governance entities. It can be viewed as Saga’s equivalent to a supreme court responsible for interpreting Saga’s constitution and ensuring that it is upheld. The council’s appointment procedures are similar to those of the Monetary Committee.

For more information and details see this blog post and Saga’s Governance Model document.