Cognitive Governance: Semantic Infrastructure and Pre-Institutional Power
Abstract
This preprint develops a theory of cognitive governance centered on semantic infrastructure and the emergence of pre-institutional power. Rather than focusing on formal institutions, policies, or regulatory systems, the analysis examines how meaning itself is structured prior to institutionalization.
It argues that semantic infrastructures organize perception, classification, and interpretation in ways that shape possible actions and outcomes before explicit governance mechanisms are enacted. Through this lens, governance operates at the level of meaning formation.
The paper demonstrates how semantic ordering produces asymmetries of visibility, interpretability, and legitimacy, thereby constituting a form of pre-institutional power.
This framework provides a foundation for understanding how contemporary knowledge systems govern behaviour through the organization of meaning rather than through direct intervention.