Principle of subsidiarity

Subsidiarity is a principle of social organization that issues should be dealt with at the most immediate / local level that can resolve them. Common examples in Europe and the United States are enshrined in law.

Within wiki movements, variations on this have focused on federation (fedwiki, Wikimedia language-projects) and explicit subsidiarity (discussions about Wikimedia governance, software development, fundraising, and hubs generally).

Related discussions

an incomplete list

Technical development

• How technical efforts should change (2019, @ CEE)

Funds

• Fundraising and donor management (2012 (WMUK), 202x)
• Funds dissemination and small grants (FDC, funding microgrant programs, 2021 regional grants committees)
• Prioritization of focus (for directing attention, funds, technical resources) (?, wishlists [DE + global + per-project])

Project policy

• Dispute resolution (CoC framework)
• Copyright (fair use + non-free content exemption framework)

Media and outreach

• Swag (better stores + gardens)
• Publications (books, calendars, ...)

Legal support

• Early wikilegal-l, regional support

Overall governance

• Futures of WM governance (2021, WMDE)

Movement Strategy

• One of the 10 principles that were created during Movement Strategy 2018–2020, alongside the 10 recommendations, is Subsidiarity.