A two-day event featuring expert talks, panels, and a keynote by David Sloan Wilson on voluntary, decentralized, and polycentric approaches to governance.
Saturday, September 6
08:00 AM – Registration and Breakfast
09:00 AM – Opening Session
- Welcoming Remarks | Orientation | Thematic Overview
09:45 AM – Panel 1 | Foundations of Polycentric Governance
Moderator: Paul Aligica, George Mason University
- Slippery Slopes in Political Economy: The Hayek-Samuelson Debate – Vlad Tarko, University of Arizona
- State Capacity Liberalism – Billy Christmas, West Virginia University
- Deliberative Polycentricity: A Sketch – Adelin-Costin Dumitru, National University of Science and Technology POLITEHNICA Bucharest
- The Political-Comprehensive Collapse – Alec Crisman, McGill University
11:15 AM – Coffee Break
11:30 AM – Panel 2 | Community, Faith & Identity-Based Self-Governance
Moderator: Aylon Manor, Center for Governance and Markets, University of Pittsburgh
- Free to Be Unfree? Rights, Autonomy & Contestation in a Religious Community – Nathan Goodman, Mercatus Center, George Mason University
- Voluntary Governance of a Subversive Milieu: Intentional Communities – Mikayla Novak, Mercatus Center, George Mason University
- Collective Action in the Sanctuary Movement: Polycentric Protection of Asylum-Seekers – Karla Segovia, Mercatus Center, George Mason University
- Polycentric Governance in a Faith Based Field: Islamic Finance – Andrew Smith, University of Birmingham
01:00 PM – Lunch Break
02:00 PM – Panel 3 | Designing Constitutional & Metaconstitutional Orders
Moderator: Mikayla Novak, Mercatus Center, George Mason University
- The Design of Non-Sovereign Orders – Ali Palida, Center for Governance and Markets, University of Pittsburgh
- Self-Governance and the Rules for Constitutional Change – Eric Scorsone, University of Virginia
- Does Public Participation in Constitution-Making Strengthen Property Rights & the Rule of Law? – Jamie Pavlik, Texas Tech University
- Who Decides What in Utopia? A Subsidiarist Case for Decentralised, Transparent Decision-Making – Rebecca Lowe, George Mason University
03:30 PM – Coffee Break
03:45 PM – Panel 4 | Digital, Crypto & AI Frontiers in Voluntary Governance
Moderator: Ali Palida, Center for Governance and Markets, University of Pittsburgh
- Polycentric Digital Constitutionalism: Restraining Cognitive Power in AI-Intensive Markets – Pavel Kuchař, Palacký University Olomouc
- Voluntary Constitutionalism and the Limits of Blockchain – Sinclair Davidson, RMIT University
- Crypto Institutional Drift: A Non-Strategic Maximization of Economic Freedom – Marcos Lüdy, Friedman Hayek Center, University of CEMA
- Voluntary Governance of AI Models: A Bloomington-School Perspective – Simon Sun, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University
05:15 PM – Coffee Break
05:30 PM – Author Meets Critics | The Polycentric Polity as an Infrastructure for the Good Life: Roundtable on David Thunder’s “Polycentric Republic” (2025)
- David Thunder, University of Navarra
- Paul Dragos Aligica, Mercatus Center, George Mason University
- Kaveh Pourvand, Universidad San Sebastian
07:00 PM – Dinner & Keynote Address
- Voluntary Governance, Viewed Through the Lens of a New Paradigm – David Sloan Wilson, Prosocial World
Sunday, September 7
08:00 AM – Breakfast
08:30 AM – Panel 5 | Stewarding Commons: Environment, Space & Heritage
Moderator: Vlad Tarko, University of Arizona
- Panarchy – Aviezer Tucker, Harvard University, The University of Ostrava
- Voluntary Environmentalism: Acting Within the Space Created by Constitutional Orders – Ryan Yonk, American Institute for Economic Research
- Metaconstitutional Rule-Making for Space Sustainability – Miguel Nkegbe, City St. George’s, University of London
- The Success of Local, Voluntary Organisations Prior to the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 – Dominique Lazanski, Center for Governance and Markets, University of Pittsburgh
10:00 AM – Coffee Break
10:15 AM – Panel 6 | Policy Implementation & the Rule of Law in Polycentric Systems
Moderator: Nathan Goodman, Hayek Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics
- Establishment Federalism and the Enforcement of the Establishment Clause – David Golemboski, Augustana University
- Social Capital and Policy Compliance: An Analysis of COVID-19 Vaccination Rates – Kun Huang, University of New Mexico
- Polycentric Expertise: Reconciling Democratic Values with Technocratic Necessities – Aylon Manor, Center for Governance and Markets, University of Pittsburgh
- Can the Interventionist State Comply with the Rule of Law? – Kaveh Pourvand, Universidad San Sebastian
11:45 AM – Lunch Break
12:45 PM – Panel 7 | Normative Visions – Expertise, Engagement & the Good Life
Moderator: David Diaconu, University of Bucharest, National University of Political Studies
- Why People Engage (or Don’t) in Voluntary Governance – Zheng Yang, California State University, Dominguez Hills
- Infrastructures of Contention in a Bucharest Gated Community – Alexandru Dincovici, National University of Political Studies and Public Administration, Bucharest
- Ethnicity, Representation & Dissent in Romanian Society – David Diaconu, National University of Political Studies and Public Administration, Bucharest
01:45 PM – Panel 8 | Free Cities & Autonomous Territories
Moderator: Paul Aligica, George Mason University
- Free Cities: Experiments in Voluntary Governance & Constitutional Systems, Paul Dragos Aligica, Mercatus Center, George Mason University
- Special Economic Zones, Free Zones, and Autonomous Cities  – Peter Young, Free Cities Foundation
- Multiple Level Selection, Institutional Evolution, and Design Principles – David Sloan Wilson, Prosocial World
02:45 PM – Closing Remarks