The Publius Project is interesting. It's roots are in the US constitutional moment when Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay wrote a series of essays advocating the ratification of the US Constitution that are known as The Federalist Papers. The project reworks this historic “constitutional moment” in terms of the intenet and a networked world.

The core insight of the Publius Project is that:

The Net is in the midst of a constitutional moment that’s unusual, if not unique in world history. Our argument is that we are together participating in a series of constitutional moments, taking place all the time, all around the world. And unlike previous constitutional moments, such as the late eighteenth century in the United States, many more people have a means of shaping the outcome.

We are publishing the arguments of those who are exploring these many processes of decision-making and governance online. Our goal is to illuminate our collective experience and to provide a forum for strong points of view to emerge. We want to shine light on the nuances at the margins of decision-making online. We mean to encourage the Internet community to provoke one another, to inform ourselves, and to listen to others with different experiences.

One essay will touch off a discussion of the various forces, actors, and activities that link to form the “rule-making” architecture of the net. Additional authors will then be asked to contribute companion pieces that may respond to, refute, or develop the central themes or questions raised by the first author.