The Coherence Problem: How Institutions Learn, Drift, and Realign

Why drift is not a failure—but a built-in property of how institutions operate. Institutions rarely break suddenly—they shift gradually while appearing stable. This paper defines the core problem: how changes in meaning become embedded in decisions before they are visible in outcomes. It introduces coherence as a problem of visibility—whether shifts in interpretation can be observed early enough to act on. By defining Translation Drift, Translation Coherence, and Interpretive Maintenance, the paper establishes the conceptual foundation for analysing how institutions learn, drift, and realign over time. About the Coherence ProgrammeThe Coherence Programme studies why institutions drift despite appearing…