Based on the list of ten preliminary policy design trade-offs (see: blog post 113), it is possible to draft a profile for societal resilience-enhancing policy choices according to Saufex.
Risk-oriented
A risk-oriented policy approach is a framework for decision-making that prioritizes identifying, assessing, and managing risks as the central organizing principle of policy design and implementation. Instead of treating all issues uniformly, it allocates attention, resources, and regulatory intensity based on the level and nature of risk involved. While the project explicitly prioritizes preserving freedom of expression, its primary function is the identification and mitigation of FIMI and hybrid threats because of the risk these pose to individual citizens’ experiences of autonomy, belonging, and achievement.
Procedural and technical compliance-oriented
A procedural and technical compliance-oriented policy is a governance approach that emphasizes strict adherence to predefined rules, processes, and technical standards. Legitimacy and accountability come from conformity to established norms. Within the project both technical standards and logistical procedures are drafted to elevate the interpretation of content and events and the reaction to content and events from subjective to intersubjective. The project’s aim is not to top-down establish what is true or false but to provide democratic frameworks for interpretation.
Decentralization-oriented
A decentralization-oriented policy is a governance approach that shifts authority, decision-making power, and resource control away from a central authority to lower levels. The underlying premise is that decisions are often more effective, legitimate, and responsive when made closer to the people or systems they affect. This policy choice is a premise of the project. It explicitly states “decentralize and democratize processes around FIMI analysis and response” and “incorporate community-driven quality assurance processes” as main objectives.
Citizen-oriented
A citizen-oriented policy is a governance approach that places the needs, experiences, and outcomes for citizens at the center of policy design, delivery, and evaluation. Instead of prioritizing institutional convenience, rigid procedures, or abstract risk models, it asks: How does this policy actually affect people, and does it improve their lived experience? This citizen-orientation over institution-orientation or even procedures-orientation means that the state organization’s primary function is not to defend and empower itself but to defend and empower its citizens. It does so by identifying and mitigating risks that threaten citizens’ experiences of autonomy, belonging, and achievement while providing decentralized procedures for citizen participation and autopoiesis.
Privacy-oriented
A privacy-oriented policy is a governance approach that prioritizes the protection of personal data and individual autonomy over information throughout the lifecycle of data collection, processing, storage, and sharing. It treats privacy not as a secondary compliance issue but as a core design constraint and normative objective in policymaking. The choice for prioritizing privacy over economic aims or security enhancement is a fundamental one within project Saufex. Privacy is seen as an essential precondition for a full citizen experience of autonomy as well as for citizen autopoiesis. Citizens need cognitive independence to form, test, and revise beliefs without undue external manipulation or surveillance pressure. The beliefs form the backbone for decentralized citizen input in decentralized decision-making.
Autonomy-oriented
An autonomy-oriented policy is a governance approach that treats individual and collective agency as the primary objective of policy design. Autonomy here is not absolute independence; it is the practical ability to form judgments, make choices, and participate in social and political life without undue coercion, manipulation, or dependency. As is clear from the earlier descriptions, enhancing citizen autonomy by defending it against risks and by empowering it as a precondition for citizen participation and citizen autopoiesis is a central aim of the Saufex project.
Recipient-oriented
A recipient-oriented policy is a governance approach that focuses on the people who receive, interpret, and act upon content and events, rather than primarily on those who produce, regulate, or transmit them. The project focuses heavily on the demand side (the recipients of information) and building their resilience, rather than on unknown senders or platforms as intermediaries. That is not to say that these actors are discarded. Rather, senders’ and intermediaries’ activities are always interpreted from the perspective of the recipient: To what extent do these activities pose a risk?
Equity-oriented
An equity-oriented policy is a governance approach that prioritizes fairness of outcomes and access across different groups, especially where structural inequalities affect people’s ability to participate, benefit, or remain resilient. Within project Saufex, the focus is on a whole-of-society approach. This means that decentralization cannot stop at including experts. Ideally, all members of society will be involved in decision-making processes. A whole-of society approach does not only improve the chances of a more fair and just policy input but also of a more fair and just policy output.
Accountability-oriented
An accountability-oriented policy is a governance or management approach designed to ensure that individuals, teams, or institutions are clearly responsible for their actions and outcomes, and that their performance can be measured, evaluated, and corrected when necessary. In essence, it shifts emphasis from intentions or procedures to verifiable responsibility for results. This choice highlights a duality in project Saufex: its focus both on procedures and outcomes, both on experiences and effects, both on citizen participation and citizen autopoiesis. The project is not just aiming to create new rules; the new rules need to enhance societal resilience. The two aims are joined: enhancing societal resilience without the orientations described so far is deemed unproductive, adhering to the orientations without achieving enhanced societal resilience is deemed formalistic.
Preventive-oriented
A preventive-oriented policy is a governance approach focused on stopping problems before they occur, rather than reacting to them after they happen or primarily assigning blame afterward. It is built on the idea that many risks, failures, or harms are predictable and reducible through early intervention, safeguards, and system design. Project Saufex is about reclaiming the initiative in the information sphere and beyond. The societal resilience it promotes is to form the foundation of a robust society that is not easily swayed by external content or events but relies on its own strengths and beliefs.
Summary
Project Saufex aims to define a path for societal resilience by centering policy on citizen autonomy and privacy, treating these not as secondary concerns but as essential preconditions for democratic life. This citizen-oriented approach shifts the state’s focus toward empowering individuals to form and revise beliefs without external manipulation, bolstered by a decentralized governance model that promotes whole-of-society participation. By prioritizing equity and shared decision-making, the project ensures that resilience is built from the ground up, fostering a process of citizen autopoiesis where the individual and community continually regenerate their own social and political identity. The resulting framework is preventive and risk-oriented, specifically targeting hybrid threats and FIMI. It distinguishes itself by being recipient-oriented, focusing on the resilience of the person receiving the information rather than just the platforms or senders transmitting it. Through procedural and technical compliance, Saufex establishes intersubjective standards that move public discourse away from subjective bias toward shared democratic interpretation. Ultimately, the project is accountability-oriented, ensuring that every policy choice serves the dual goal of protecting the experience of autonomy and the active process of autopoiesis, reclaiming the initiative to create a robust, self-sustaining society.