[governance] Muti-stakeholder Group structure (some ideas)

[Milton Mueller]

John:
We don't necessarily differ. I agree that IGOs should be involved and represented, I simply believe that their representation should be counted as part of the "government" slice of the MS pie. There are of course differences in the views of IGO secretariats and their constituent governments, but we are still dealing with governments.

>>> John Mathiason <jrmathia at maxwell.syr.edu> 6/1/2007 2:25 AM >>>
Milton,

I would beg to differ.  While Intergovernmental organizations are  
"run by governments", they are in many ways different from  
governments, not only because what they do is the result of usually  
complex consensuses about what they are supposed to achieve and how,  
but also because their secretariats reflect an often unique view of  
issues that is somewhere in the middle of other stakeholders, since  
one of their responsibilities to is to take into account the views of  
those stakeholders.  When "intergovernmental organizations"  
participate as such, it is usually through their secretariats.   
Assuming that individual governments can represent them would not be  
very realistic.

Regards,

John
On May 31, 2007, at 10:13 PM, Milton Mueller wrote:

> Bertrand,
> I agree with many of the things you said here, but would take issue  
> with the idea that "international organizations" are stakeholders  
> in the same sense as business, civil society and government. If by  
> international Organizations (IOs) you mean IGOs (intergovernmental  
> orgs) they are , first, a very small group of organizations  
> (compare the number of IOs to the number of businesses or NGOs  
> worldwide). Second, they are accountable to and agents of  
> governments. So we need to avoid a double representation of  
> governments in any "balanced" MS structure.
>
> Certainly, IOs have specialized expertise which needs to be  
> utilized, but their representation can come from the governmental  
> side of the house.
>
>>>> ca at rits.org.br 5/31/2007 10:42:42 AM >>>
> Good, Bertrand! Let us restart this process on new ground.
>
> --c.a.
>
> Bertrand de La Chapelle wrote:
>> Dear all,
>>
>> As several remarks have mentioned, the key issue is not so much  
>> bureau or
>> not bureau (ie the name itself ) but the composition of any truly
>> multi-stakeholder group and its role. Some common sense elements  
>> could be
>> taken into account in the discussion :
>>
>> 1) On the composition :
>>
>>   - it should be a single body : separating the constituencies  
>> would be
>>   detrimental to fruitful interaction and lead to silo approaches
>> preventing
>>   consensus; a step backwards in the process;
>>   - three categories of actors come naturally to mind : governments,
>>   civil society and business sector; and the corresponding members  
>> of the
>>   group should ideally be designated by their respective  
>> constituencies;
>>   - a fourth category covering "organizations" could be of interest,
>>   allowing participation of actors like ITU, ICANN, W3C, IETF,  
>> etc...This
>>   would actually be in line with para 29 of the TAIS that says : "The
>>   international management of the Internet should be multilateral,
>> transparent
>>   and democratic, with the full involvement of governments, the  
>> private
>>   sector, civil society and international organizations."
>>   - an equal number for each of the four groups is a rather natural
>>   balance; appropriate justifications would be needed for any other
>>   proportions;
>>   - there is an interest in maintaining a small overall number of
>>   members to allow good interaction : based upon experience, a  
>> maximum of
>>   about 40 members seems a reasonable amount;
>>   - as for governments, a minimum of five is necessary to allow
>>   traditional geographical diversity; but more than 10 would  
>> explode the
>>   number of members if the 1 to 4 ratio is applied;
>>   - previous, current and future host countries on a given year  
>> could be
>>   given some special rights, either as natural representative for  
>> their own
>>   region or in addition to a group of five for instance;
>>   - as for civil society, and in spite of all its limitations :-),  
>> the
>>   Internet Governance Caucus seems like the only sufficiently  
>> legitimate,
>>   diverse and structured group (ie with explicit procedures) to be  
>> able to
>>   designate MAG members.
>>
>> As for the organizations mentioned as a fourth category,  
>> irrespective of
>> their competence on the substance, their expertise as conference  
>> and events
>> organizers could also be useful in preparing the annual IGF  
>> meetings; the
>> diversity of their working processes could also be useful in future
>> discussions on methodology (see for instance the W3C process  
>> document).
>>
>> 2) On the role of multi-stakeholder groups
>>
>> In general terms, the above generic mechanism could be used for a  
>> diversity
>> of functions and various groups could be formed in the future  
>> according to
>> this formula, with variable sizes.
>>
>> The important element is that multi-stakeholder groups are not and
>> cannot be
>> decision-making bodies, let alone negociating structures on behalf  
>> of a
>> larger community. First of all because the non-membership nature  
>> of the IGF
>> (as reminded by Nitin Desai) is a natural obstacle; secondly  
>> because they
>> have a more useful role to play. Their main role should be to  
>> facilitate
>> processes, to help consensus emerge from thorough discussions and  
>> to advise
>> and support the secretariat in formalizing zones of agreement among
>> stakeholders.
>>
>> One of the main objection to using the term "bureau" is related to  
>> the
>> above
>> : it evokes too much the decision-making groups in traditional
>> intergovernmental institutions. Like with the emergence of terms like
>> "dynamic coalitions", participants in the IGF have a common  
>> interest in
>> finding innovative terminology that allows to get everybody's mind  
>> out of
>> their respective boxes.
>>
>> Hope it helps steer the discussion in a fruitful direction, useful  
>> for all.
>>
>> Best
>>
>> Bertrand
>>
>>
>>
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> -- 
>
> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> Carlos A. Afonso
> diretor de planejamento
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> http://www.rits.org.br 
> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>
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