{
  "id": "citizens-first.ranked",
  "term": "citizens first",
  "sense": "ranked",
  "pos": "noun",
  "status": "published",
  "level": 16,
  "domain": "agency",
  "style": "folk",
  "definition": "A collective self that narrows its boundary by keeping the walls of its members first, above the walls of others who live in its land.",
  "folk_gloss": "the principle that a state should put its own citizens' interests before those of non-citizens",
  "emergence": {
    "components": [
      "collective-self.shared",
      "boundary.limit",
      "first.order",
      "above.spatial",
      "keep.maintenance",
      "live.biological",
      "land.geography",
      "narrow.spatial",
      "wall.range-end",
      "member.social",
      "others.distinct-entities"
    ],
    "interaction": "Everyone in the land is inside the reach of its government, but the self model orders whose walls it keeps, so the boundary works as a ranking and not a closed door.",
    "novel_properties": [
      "a boundary that ranks instead of excludes",
      "presence in the land without equal keeping"
    ]
  },
  "examples": [],
  "relations": [
    {
      "id": "locals-only.closed",
      "type": "contrasts-with",
      "note": "locals only closes the place; citizens first lets others in and keeps their walls second"
    },
    {
      "id": "second-class-citizens.lesser",
      "type": "contrasts-with",
      "note": "citizens first ranks non-members lower; second class citizens ranks some members lower"
    }
  ],
  "used_by": [],
  "forms": [
    "citizens first",
    "nationals first",
    "our people first"
  ],
  "closed": true,
  "provenance": {
    "author": "claude-opus-5-5:hand-curated",
    "date": "2026-09-29",
    "confidence": 0.85,
    "sources": [
      "schema/power-agency-phase.md"
    ]
  },
  "canonical": "https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-citizens-first.ranked"
}