postTAS

Posttas is a term used primarily in speculative fiction and theoretical discourse to describe a post-TAS regime—a set of social, technical, and cultural arrangements that emerge after the collapse, transformation, or obsolescence of a central Transnational Administrative System (TAS). The TAS concept refers to a global or supra-national governance framework that coordinates policy, infrastructure, and resource distribution. Posttas envisions decentralized, networked systems that operate without a single controlling authority, coordinated through interoperable protocols, trust networks, and common norms.

Origin and usage: The term arose in discussions about post-institutional futures and has appeared in multiple novels and critical essays as an analytic lens to examine resilience, legitimacy, and memory in post-institutional societies. It is deliberately broad and is not tied to a single model of governance.

Characteristics: Major features include distributed governance with local autonomy, digital sovereignty, open-source infrastructure, resilience through redundancy, and mutual-aid economies. Data rights, identity, and liability are renegotiated via community norms and consent frameworks rather than centralized law.

Impact and criticisms: Proponents argue posttas offers adaptable, resilient alternatives to centralized states. Critics warn that the concept can be vague, risk fragmentation, and reinforce inequality if access to decentralized capabilities is uneven.

See also: post-state, postcapitalism, distributed governance, resilience theory, speculative fiction.

Note: Posttas is not an established term in real-world policy; definitions vary by author and work.