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Description This paper is the conceptual entry point to the research programme The Coherence Problem: How Institutions Learn, Drift, and Realign.It defines the central problem—how institutional decision systems lose coherence under delayed feedback—and establishes the conceptual foundations developed in subsequent papers on translation drift, measurement, and decision-system architecture. The programme introduces the Operating Spine, a formal decision-learning architecture linking purpose, capabilities, value drivers, strategy, portfolios, and signals, and identifies translation drift as a structural mechanism through which meaning gradually shifts across governance layers. The programme further develops methods for observing translation coherence and derives design principles for governance in AI-mediated environments. This record serves as the programme statement and conceptual overview for a linked series of preprints presenting the architecture, mechanism, measurement framework, and design implications in detail. All related parts are linked through Zenodo record relations to enable navigation across the full research programme. Supporting materials, working documents, and programme structure are available via the Open Science Framework (OSF): https://osf.io/9cvky/ Version 1.00: This is the first public release of the programme statement. It defines the conceptual scope, core constructs, and structural framework of the research programme. Empirical studies, measurement instruments, and field applications are currently in preparation and will be released in subsequent linked records. Version 1.01: Minor update: programme structure and linked records updated to include Part 5 (Field Protocol), Epilogue, and Capstone.