[governance] individuals

Vittorio Bertola vb at bertola.eu.org
Wed Apr 26 12:57:23 EDT 2006


Gurstein, Michael ha scritto:
> Okay Milton, suppose that I (and a group of my friends and
> acquaintances) decide that you and your friends and acquaintances are
> interlopers in thrall to the great deepdishpizza god and that I and mine
> are the one true followers of the CS faith and thus should be recognized
> as THE CS-IGC.

The recognition as "the" civil society venue for participation is 
something that (as you say in your following message) can only come from 
the top, e.g. from the entity that needs to recognize someone as "the".

However, if you want this designation to be fair, it should bring with 
itself some requirements, such as open and non-discriminatory access to 
all potential members of the constituency that it is meant to gather, 
transparent and democratic internal procedures, anti-capture and 
pro-balance provisions, etc.; and usually, also the need for neutrality, 
i.e. "the" civil society venue does not take positions unless they are 
really and formally agreed by all, or almost all, participants, through 
well defined, accountable processes.

To preempt the issue (and possible bad developments), we might go for b:

> 	b. wait for the powers that be to decide who are the one true
> followers of the faith (based on their, of course, completely
> disinterested criteria)

but at the same time come up in advance with a proposal for a new 
structure and a set of requirements that can collect broad support by 
all civil society participants in the process.

However, nothing prevents us from going on with the present, multiple 
voice model - it might even prove better: maybe less compelling towards 
other stakeholders, but more open and less controversial. Actually, the 
only part of the story where you might really need "the" civil society 
entity is when you have to appoint representatives for the entire 
stakeholder group, while you might still work by ad-hoc coalitions on 
substance matters.
-- 
vb.             [Vittorio Bertola - v.bertola [a] bertola.eu.org]<-----
http://bertola.eu.org/  <- Prima o poi...
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