"bridge", was Re: VS: [governance] Summary Report of IGF MAG available

[Avri Doria]

On 3 Mar 2008, at 17:45, Parminder wrote:

>
>>> 'ICANN is CS'
>>
>> well they are a non profit NGO.
>>
>> and to date within the UN, non profit NGO's have been defined as CS.
>
> Avri
>
> And you expect us to ignore the fact that when ICANN had the choice to
> register either as civil society entity or as business sector entity  
> for
> WSIS it registered as a business sector entity :) So all this  
> defense of
> ICANN as CS may be a case of being 'more loyal than the king'.  
> Though we all
> agree that ICANN is a new kind of an organization and did not fit into
> existing UN classification. There is no class there for a global  
> governance
> body which is not inter-governmental. But that doesn't make it into  
> a CS
> entity, it makes it into a global governance entity.

I don't think I have any expectations about what should ignore or  
not.  And as I said it really doesn't matter what they registered as  
at the end of the day.
All I am trying to point out is that there are lots of definitions and  
definitions and self associations vary over time.  I have no  interest  
in whether ICANN is CS or not and am really only used them as an  
example.  i could have spoke about ISOC or W3C if I had wanted.  what  
I am saying is that it is debatable, once we get into arguing  
definitions, whether  a non-profit NGO is a CS is or it isn't. And  
with multistakeholder organizations, i think it is difficult to peg  
them down.

>
>
> ICANN makes policy, and we are affected by it... so, in relation to
> extracting accountability in relation to their policy making  
> function, we
> need to differentiate ourselves from it.

This is the more interesting statement to me.  Are you saying that by  
definition, CS could never be responsible for making governance  
policy?  Does your definition of CS depend upon being other to the  
policy making process?  Is CS, by definition, doomed to always be  
affected by policy and never the maker of policy?

Personally I hope not.  In my political philosophy, CS only reaches  
its capabilities when it is an integral part of making the governance  
policy.


a.
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