When Governance Depends on the System, It Is No Longer Governance

Source: Dev.to

Governance and System Dependency

In many AI and cybersecurity approaches, governance is gradually embedded into the technical system itself: encoded rules, automated controls, mechanisms that “decide” what is allowed and what is not.

This may appear efficient, but it introduces a structural flaw:

Authority shifts from people and institutions to technology.

Governance cannot depend on a system functioning correctly.
It must exist before, above, and independent of any technical component.

When a system fails, degrades, or is replaced, the legitimacy of decisions cannot disappear with it.
If authority collapses alongside technology, the issue is not a technical failure — it is a governance design failure.

For this reason, in complex and high‑risk environments, governance is not conceived as a function of the system, but as an independent structural property, capable of sustaining accountability and control even as technology changes.