constitution

An act of establishing by pointing to the fundamental components, procedures, laws or forms of organization that a system must necessarily possess for it to be of a certain kind. So, the electoral process which determines the membership and composition of a governing group constitutes that government as a representative one. Organizational closure (and several other requirements) constitutes a system as an autopoietic one. "Self-definition" is a synonym for "constitution." In politics a "declaration of independence" or a formal "constitution" has this effect. In D'Arcy Thompson's principle that growth creates form, but form limits growth," growth and form constitute each other. (Krippendorff )