Slide deck of my talk at the Ethereum Paris Conference on the history of politics and its lesson for building constitutions in blockchain DAO governance. Here's a link to the talk: https://www.youtube.com/live/TIcZj-Oxcgc?feature=share

1. The History of Politics
and DAO Governance
Federico Ast - @federicoast
President, Cooperative Kleros

2. “You can't connect the dots
looking forward. You can
only connect them looking
backwards. So you have to
trust the dots will somehow
connect in your future.”
Steve Jobs

7. Argentina in the World Ranking of GDP/Capita
Source: The Madison Project (April 2018)

11. Douglass North
(1920-2015)

14. Kleros, a
Decentralized
Arbitration
Protocol

15. Governance
Problems in DAOs

20. Software Developers
Were Not Trained in
Politics or Political
Science

21. Many of the Governance
Problems in DAOs Have
Been Discussed for
Centuries

22. “History never repeats
itself, but it rhymes”
Mark Twain

23. What’s Cool About
Democracy?

24. Participation is a
source of legitimacy

25. Higher
diversity
results in
better
decisions

26. Democratic
Fetishism

27. “Hey, bros. Let’s take
power in our hands and
vote about everything in
our DAO.”

29. But it didn't work…
And for predictable
reasons.

31. “Such democracies (...)
have in general been
as short in their lives
as they have been
violent in their deaths”.
James Madison.

32. The Problem of
Knowledge

34. Theatrocracy

35. Twittocracy

37. John Stuart
Mill
(1806-1873)

38. A big promoter
of universal
suffrage

39. But citizens
with more
education or
knowledge
should get
more votes.

40. The Danger of
Factions

41. “By a faction, I understand
a number of citizens (...)
who are united and
actuated by some
common impulse of
passion, or of interest,
adversed to (...) the
aggregate interests of the
community”.
James Madison. Federalist
10.

42. Majority factions
can end up crushing
minorities

43. How to make good decisions
and avoid the dangers of
factions while at the same
time preserving the spirit of
popular government?

44. Direct
Democracy
Representative
Democracy
LAWS, RULES LAWS, RULES
VOTE
ELECTED
REPRESENTATIVE
THE PEOPLE THE PEOPLE

45. Representation as a
Filtering Device

46. But… What if people
choose the wrong
representatives?

47. The Demagogue.
José Clemente Orozco. 1946.
Museo Nacional de Arte de México.

48. How to recognize a
demagogue?

49. They present themselves as
men or women of the “pure
common people”, opposed
to the “corrupt elite”.

50. They seek to create a
plebiscitary democracy
where the majority
decides everything

51. How to defend
against
demagogues?

52. Address their rants
with facts and
arguments

55. Separation of
Powers

57. Checks and
balances, rule of law
and protection of
minority rights

60. How can we implement
separation of powers in
the DAO?

61. Lotteries: the Road
not Taken

62. Elections, the Rich
Man’s Democracy

63. Classical Republics
Relied on Sortition

64. Pinakion

65. Kleroterion

67. Power

68. Break

69. Rotation in the Council
Year 1 Year 2 Year 3

70. To rule and be
ruled in turns

72. Can we introduce
lotteries in some
procedures?

73. Is there a “perfect
constitution” one
can just copy and
paste?

74. Jeremy
Bentham
(1748-1832)

75. Leading Principles
of a Constitutional
Code for Any State

76. “The great outlines
which require to be
drawn, will be found to
be the same for every
territory, for every race
and for every time”.
Jeremy Bentham.

77. Montesquieu
(1689-1755)

78. A society laws and
institutions need to
be crafted
according to its
specific culture
and geography.

83. Why essentially the
same constitution can
result in very different
trajectories?

84. The Social and
Cultural Background
of Democracy

85. Wealth Distribution

86. Alexis de
Tocqueville
(1805-1859)

90. Wealth concentration
usually leads to
concentration in
political power

91. “No citizen be so rich
that he can buy
another, and none so
poor that is compelled
to sell himself”.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau

93. How does wealth
distribution affect
political dynamics?

94. How can distribution
be improved?

96. Niccolò
Machiavelli
(1469-1527)

101. How to mitigate the
power of whales?

102. Good governance
comes from good
laws or good men?

103. “If men were
angels, no
government
would be
necessary”.
James Madison.

104. “Ambition must
be made to
counteract
ambition”.
James Madison.

105. Getting the
Government Right

106. Getting the
Mechanism Right

107. Rely on Incentives,
Not On Moral Virtue
of Agents

108. What about morality
and political
culture?

110. Unwritten Rules of
Mutual Toleration

111. Self Restraint in the
Use of Power

112. See Proof of Humanity as a basis for a lot of
protocols.
Want the registry to be as secure as possible.
Focuses on economic and technical security.
Individual freedom.
Pragmatists.
Focuses on facts.
Believes ultimate freedom is forking.
Want progressive decentralisation.
Believes people will use Proof of Humanity
mainly due to projects relying on it.
Mainly see Proof of Humanity in the context of
UBI and voting.
Want the rejection rate to be as low as
possible.
Focuses on community ownership.
Community equality.
Idealists.
Focuses on feelings.
Believes ultimate freedom is voting.
Want immediate decentralisation.
Believes people will register to Proof of
Humanity mainly due to communication and
community.
Kleros Side Democracy Earth Side

115. How can we create
a culture of civility
and collaboration?

116. Can we improve the
political culture by
education?

117. Or by religion?

118. Religion
From the Latin Religare
“To tie”, “Relier”

119. Inculcating civic virtue
through festivals, public
instruction, symbols and
ceremonies. A religion
based not on the
supernatural but on
moral values.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau

121. To
Conclude

122. DAOs are an
opportunity to rethink
governance from the
first principles

123. We can learn a lot
from the history of
political ideas

124. Collaborate with
cross-discipline
teams

126. Let's experiment!

127. “Study history. In
history lies all the
secrets of
statecraft.”
Winston Churchill

128. Thanks!
Federico Ast - @federicoast