[governance] Can governmental powers be limited?

[Milton Mueller]

I've changed the heading. 

>>> avri at psg.com 04/22/07 4:32 PM >>>
>i have heard this argued before but never understood it.  
>it is like saying that putting the fox in charge of the hens 
>will limit their power over the hens.  governments, those in 
>power, have always sought to expand their power over people 
>and have ever attempted to minimize the actual influence 
>of democracy.  

I recognize the risk of involving governments, but they are already
involved, and becoming more so, so we have no choice about taking that
risk. 

What you are saying is that no government has ever been constrained by
law. Isn't that obviously false?

Think of the First and Fourth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, or
the many examples of European privacy/data protection laws being used to
stop governmental actions. Recently another attempt to impose content
regulation on the internet was struck down by the supreme court. That is
governmental power being used against itself; checks and balances. Where
did those constraints come from? They came from legally binding
governmental agreements (laws).

I think in the context of an international negotiation, one that allows
nonstate actors to participate directly, there is some chance of
imposing direct, strategically placed limits on the possibility of state
intervention, and getting governments themselves to recognize and
(usually) respect that limitation. 

Again, I am fully aware of the risks of such an approach. But please
tell me, if we don't establish formal limits that governments themselves
agree to and ratify, how do YOU expect to constrain state interventions?
If you have a better way, I am totally open to it. Really; there's no
"not invented here" syndrome, I just want the result. 

>within a FC, no matter what  
>contribution CS believes it can make, governments will be 
>the only ones allowed to negotiate and to decide.  i do not see how
turning  
>over control of the IG to a deliberative body composed solely of  
>governments will have anything but a deleterious effect.
>
>when you write the paper on your proposal for a FC, please expand on  
>the IGP notion and explain why this could possibly be the case.


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