[governance] individuals

[Milton Mueller]

>>> Vittorio Bertola <vb at bertola.eu.org> 4/25/2006 6:17:57 AM >>>
>That's my aim as well. That's why I am overly sensitive to 
>this matter: I don't want to be told again "sorry, you can't 
>participate because you're not a member of an NGO"

This is the core principle I where agree with Vittorio. It is self-defeating to set up a participation structure that is allegedly "representative," but when real people who want to participate come forward they find themselves blocked out by it. 

I see no inherent conflict between encouraging involvement by organized NGOs, who _may_ have broader support (or may not), and permitting the participation of motivated individuals. Many formal NGOs are little more than one - 5 motivated individuals anyway.  

We have to work with what we actually have. I have a very good conception about what we do have to work with, having done fairly systematic social science research on it. At this stage, we have about 500 CS actors who follow this loosely, about 200 who follow it regularly, and about 60 who are active. that's it. 

I also think we do not need to burden ourselves with the crushing thought that "We are talking about decisions that affect hundreds of millions of people!" Are we? I would say, rather, that we are talking about _participating_ in deliberations and discussions in a highly polycentric system that MAY lead to decisions (note the "s" on the end) by many different decisions makers that MAY affect hundreds of millions of people, but only via influence enacted in many different channels. 




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