[governance] Nitin Desai's two groups

[William Drake]

Hi,

I agree with Ian, Nitin's quick stylized comments merely alluded to  
the existence of different views, he wasn't purporting to present a  
complete mapping of their topography.  There are many different  
perspectives in play, and I for one wouldn't fit in ether of the two  
groups he posited.  As I said in the meeting, there are a number of  
grounds on which CS people might criticize the IGF's institutional  
organization and performance.  For some us this includes arguing that  
it needs to totally transformed so as to be able to adopt  
recommendations, while for others it entails opposition to or  
agnosticism on recommendations but also a desire for more structured  
agendas and ongoing monitoring and assessment of and catalyzing of  
reform within decision making bodies.  Either way, the main point is  
to offer these and other criticisms in a constructive manner that  
doesn't lend credence to the claims of those forces asserting that  
the IGF is irredeemably broken and hence its functions should be  
shifted elsewhere, e.g. to a traditional intergovermental organization.

Best,

Bill

On Dec 4, 2008, at 7:59 AM, Ian Peter wrote:

> Actually the more I look at this the more I don't think any of the
> stakeholder groups can be absolutely dumped in one camp or another.  
> We've
> already explored that governments are mixed - within the technical
> community, there is a significant if less vocal group who would  
> definitely
> seek change to varying degrees. (Robert Kahn, co-founder of TCP/IP  
> would be
> one of the voices here, as would be Louis Pouzin, the great European
> Internet pioneer and inventor of datagrams).
>
> Within private sector, there would certainly be groups who would  
> like to see
> internet governance changed in various ways and who would not be  
> happy with
> the status quo. This would certainly include a lot of the innovative
> companies.
>
> And within civil society, while most of us would see the need for some
> change, the degree and nature of change we would seek differs greatly.
>
> So our allies in seeking change are likely to be everywhere, and  
> will differ
> depending on the specific issue we are addressing. I think that's  
> where
> multi-stakeholder is quite intriguing.
>
> Ian Peter
> PO Box 429
> Bangalow NSW 2479
> Australia
> Tel (+614) 1966 7772 or (+612) 6687 0773
> www.ianpeter.com
>
>
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Jeremy Malcolm [mailto:jeremy at ciroap.org]
>> Sent: 04 December 2008 12:39
>> To: governance at lists.cpsr.org
>> Subject: Re: [governance] Nitin Desai's two groups
>>
>> On 04/12/2008, at 5:47 AM, Ian Peter wrote:
>>
>>> I too though Desai's quote was excellent - but I do interpret it  
>>> a bit
>>> differently, in that governments as I see it sit in the second group
>>> who
>>> want more say and/or more power. That's an interesting dynamic.
>>
>>
>> Well, it's both IMHO; largely southern governments such as Brazil and
>> China, so yes we do have some interesting bedfellows.   That  
>> leaves in
>> the first group the technical community, private sector and the US  
>> and
>> its close allies.  All of this was obvious to us from (even before)
>> Athens, but I don't think Desai has come out and acknowledged it  
>> until
>> now.
>>
>> --
>> JEREMY MALCOLM
>> Project Coordinator
>> CONSUMERS INTERNATIONAL-KL OFFICE
>> for Asia Pacific and the Middle East
>>
>> Consumers International (CI) is the only independent global
>> campaigning voice for consumers. With over 220 member  
>> organisations in
>> 115 countries, we are building a powerful international consumer
>> movement to help protect and empower consumers everywhere. For more
>> information, visit www.consumersinternational.org.
>>
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***********************************************************
William J. Drake
Senior Associate
Centre for International Governance
Graduate Institute of International and
   Development Studies
Geneva, Switzerland
william.drake at graduateinstitute.ch
***********************************************************

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