[governance] Going forward - Role of the governance caucus [3 options]

[Milton Mueller]

>>> "William Drake" <drake at hei.unige.ch> 3/5/2006 5:01 AM >>>
> A procedural rather than substantive focus could be viable.  
>But for your solution to work we'd need to address a number 
>of challenges, e.g.: 1) Nobody appears to want to want to 
>chair; Jeanette's prior call for nominations met a stony
>silence.

That can change. I don't think people fully realize the consequences of inaction, yet. 

> And preferably we'd have multiple candidates, and competitive
>choice, or else we're in politburo mode. 

Of course, in many ways it would be better if more people were eager to do this than there were slots, but the reality is that we would be lucky to get two volunteers. It is a false leap in logic to suggest that no competition = politburo.  Most volunteer organizations don't have competition for their chairs, but rather lurch from one reluctant person who agrees to do it to hold the thing together, to another. 

>They'd have to be dedicated procedural mavens to achieve 
>what you ask, too 

Dedicated yes, procedural maven, no. 

>2)  Even if some folks were to step forward now, it's a
>hard to have a really proper election without an 
>identifiable electorate.

You don't need an election now, you need a couple of volunteers willing to take the responsibility who can write (and/or shepherd the rest of us into writing) a new set of rules for defining an electorate and making elections in the future. 

A bootstrapping problem afflicts all forms of collective authority. No need to get hung up on it, just find an acceptable way to get over it. These are problems that can be solved, if we want to solve them. If we don't, then fine, let's be open about that. 

>Suggestions?

I suggest that we conscript Avri Doria and Meryem Merzouki (or, if she declines, Bill Drake) as co-coordinators for the next year and charge them with facilitating the creation of a structure. 


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