entityparliament

Entityparliament is a theoretical or proposed form of representative assembly in which the members are organizations, entities, or autonomous systems rather than individual citizens. In this model, seats are allocated to corporations, non-governmental organizations, municipalities, universities, or other legally recognized actors. The term appears in political theory and discussions of multi-stakeholder governance, digital democracy, and experiments in governance for complex, interdependent systems.

It is used to deliberate and decide on public policies that affect shared resources or cross-cutting issues where aggregate citizen representation is impractical or slow. It is sometimes proposed as a complement or alternative to traditional representative democracy, with a focus on expertise, continuity, and scalability.

Structure and processes: would rely on defined representation rules (by entity type, size, geographic scope, or impact). Voting could be weighted, or based on consensus or committee-based deliberation. Members could be elected by their constituencies, appointed by independent authorities, or self-selected within legal frameworks. Deliberation would typically use digital platforms to facilitate transparency and broad participation, with clear rules for conflict of interest and data governance. Accountability mechanisms might include audits, sunset clauses, or periodic review.

Applications and implications: proposed domains include oversight of AI and digital platforms, data governance, critical infrastructure, environmental agreements, and international cooperation. Critics argue that entity-based governance risks entrenching power among influential actors, reducing accountability to people, and creating legitimacy challenges. Proponents counter that it can improve decision-making for complex problems by incorporating specialization and diverse stakeholder perspectives.

Variants: fully entity-based parliaments, mixed assemblies that include human delegates, or hybrid digital forums with human oversight.