Blockchain-based solutions are developed to address myriad governance challenges; from decentralised autonomous organisations through corporate governance to “virtual nations” for the decentralised governance of citizenship and migration. This workshop will focus on analysing blockchain governance from a theoretical perspective, relying on the extensive body of literature on legal and political theory, identity, citizenship, collective action and game theory.

The workshop will investigate the operations and governance of existing blockchain-based systems, standing on the shoulders of giants to derive new theories and insights. It will compare the challenges faced by current blockchain systems with those faced by existing legal and political institutions, and explore whether the governance of distributed systems can be informed by previous/existing scholarship.

The theoretical research undertaken at the workshop will set the grounds for understanding elaborating new modes of governance for distributed systems that better comply with the current conception of legitimacy and justice.