Governance

The process by which decisions about a protocol get made and executed.

Governance is the broader umbrella covering how a protocol makes decisions: token voting, multi-sig signers, foundation councils, delegate systems, off-chain temperature checks, on-chain executable proposals. Most protocols use hybrid models: foundation makes day-to-day calls, DAO votes on parameter changes and treasury allocations.

Well-designed governance has clear scope (what can be voted on), clear process (proposal stages, timelocks), and clear failure modes (what happens if quorum isn't met). Poorly designed governance is opaque about who can do what, which usually means the founders can do anything.