# kaal:claim:3808859-025

**Claim.** The degree of decentralization of an open source project is determined by the degree of hierarchy in its governance: a flat structure with consensus decision-making and no power disparities between developers is the most decentralized form.

**Type.** definitional  **Support.** asserted

**Holds when.**

- author stipulates this measure for comparing open source projects

**Source quote.**

> The degree of decentralization in open source communities and projects is dictated by the degree of hierarchies in the governance of a given project.

**From.** Wulf A. Kaal, *Decentralization – Why We Need Technology Infrastructure Upgrades* (2021), IV.5 Level of Decentralization, page 36

**Cite as.** Wulf A. Kaal, Decentralization – Why We Need Technology Infrastructure Upgrades (2021). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3808859

**Verify.** sha256 of source PDF `304ad25d43b5ecea3158e3a2ca04e6e1e3bd2958e2134e2dcefbfedf3b6f3ab7` at https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wulfkaal/Academic-Papers/main/papers/pdf/Kaal%20-%202021%20-%20Decentralization%20%E2%80%93%20Why%20We%20Need%20Technology%20Infrastructure%20Upgrades.pdf

**Topics.** decentralization, research-methods, governance-design, open-source-and-code, institutional-design

**Keywords.** decentralization-measurement, governance, open-source, hierarchy

**Related claims.**

- extends: https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/3782198-015

**Canonical form.** This markdown file is the canonical hashed representation of the claim. Its sha256 is the content hash used for attestation.