The Failure to Coordinate; Epistemology of Relational Sovereignty
Marshall, Stephen
Marshall, Stephen
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Abstract
Epistemology of Relational Sovereignty and Relational Science A project led by Master of Science Candidate Stephen Marshall Advisors Josh Farley and Travis Reynolds, with guest advisor April Roggio. April 2026 Despite unprecedented technical capacity and institutional complexity, contemporary governance systems repeatedly fail to metabolize feedback from ecological and social crises. Prevailing explanations attribute institutional failure to insufficient capacity, flawed policy design, corruption, polarization, or inadequate incentives. While any of these factors may be present, when participatory status is asymmetrically distributed, feedback does not circulate evenly, relational and material conditions cannot return to decision makers, and failures of coordination can occur. This non-learning is not solely a matter of design failure or insufficient knowledge. It is also a function of distorted relational fields in which participatory standing, reciprocity, and accountability are unevenly structured. If the circulation of consequence is obstructed by asymmetrical recognition, then governance reform requires diagnostic tools capable of identifying relational distortions alongside technical deficiencies. Relational data, sovereign wisdom, inter-generational natural science, and accounts of interpersonal and inter-communal harm may in fact explain much of what a researcher is trying to learn, but research practice does not prioritize relational data in research data sets. Hence, the methods of ontological science discount relational evidence, and neglect the expectation of self-determination (of persons and communities). ERS provides a framework for research that centers relationships, community systems, and local sovereignty. When relational data is prioritized, The claims and complaints of community members become the reason for the research. Stephen Marshall presents Relational Science, a research methodology which begins with these premises: A. Human social groups are adaptive systems, B. for which relational information is pivitol, C. to which individuals pay close attention, D. to ensure adaptive functioning of the group. When consequences return to those who generated them, learning, revision and adaptation, to benefit the entire group, become possible.
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Date
1/1/2026
Student Status
Graduate Student
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Poster
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CDAE
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College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
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Social Science