[governance] New dot com agreement changes USG-ICANN relationship

Jeanette Hofmann jeanette at wz-berlin.de
Thu Dec 7 07:57:57 EST 2006


Danny,

don't take the "glorification" too literally. What I meant to say is 
that disappointment with private forms of governance should not make us 
blind for the shortcoming of governmental or intergovernmental forms of 
governance.

At the risk of getting bashed for it, I sometimes wonder if ICANN's 
transparency has the paradoxical effect of evoking criticism that 
intergovernmental organizations avoid simply by hiding their failures 
better.

jeanette

Danny Butt wrote:
> Hi Jeanette/all
> 
> I find it interesting that internet culture is so hostile to the idea  
> of government that even mild recognition quickly becomes  
> "glorification" :7. I have no great love for intergovernmental  systems, 
> but they do some things relatively well, or at least better  than 
> existing alternatives. Geographical diversity and due process  would be 
> high on my list.
> 
> While I think that "transparency" in the development sector is highly  
> overrated (and often a tool to enable ICT-rich organisations to get  
> contracts where "publishing on the internet" is equated with  
> transparency), I agree it is an important component of  accountability. 
> However, it's far from the only component, or even  the most important.
> 
> My point is that what constitutes "performance" will be assessed  
> differently by different people, and there is a rather large  
> geopolitical/socio-cultural imbalance in positive evaluations of  
> existing Internet Governance entities. Civil Society's stand on that  
> imbalance will, in my opinion, be critical to its long-term voice in  IG 
> arrangements.
> 
> Or to put it more simply, if CS buys the line that everything is fine  
> as long as it gets seats at the table, then it may soon find itself  in 
> an expensive, empty restaurant with bad food and worse company,  while 
> the masses eat elsewhere.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Danny
> 
> 
> On 07/12/2006, at 7:53 AM, Jeanette Hofmann wrote:
> 
>> On further reflection, we should not glorify intergovernmental  
>> processes and institutions. Even if the ITU is more inclusive as  far 
>> as participation of governments is concerned, we don't know  much 
>> about balances of powers between governments. And even if  there are 
>> formal mechanisms of accountability, we don't know  whether they are 
>> effective.
>>
>> ICANN is much more transparent than any intergovernmental  
>> organization. This is why we can observe its shortcomings on a  
>> regular basis. I wouldn't be able to say if closed  intergovernmental 
>> organizations such as the ITU violate or stretch  their own rules more 
>> or less than ICANN. What seems safe to say is  trust in an 
>> organization requires better performance.
> 
> 
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