[governance] a good read

[William Drake]

Hi

Two more cents:  The circa 2004 language of "broad" vs "narrow" definitions of IG is misleading and will hopefully fade away at some point.  On the one hand, there is nothing remotely narrow about the range of issues and institutions that are supposedly entailed by the "narrow" definition.  On the other hand, the way the distinction gets used, to the extent that it still does, seems to imply that what's under the narrow umbrella is the important real deal IG, while what's under the broad umbrella is some sort of murky hodgepodge of miscellaneous stuff that may or may not be important and IG.  This is especially so if one conceives of what's under the "broad" umbrella as "the relationship between the Internet and mainstream public policy issues that are affected by it," which can mean just about anything (is the conduct of electoral campaigns Internet governance?  this is certainly a mainstream public policy issue affected by the Internet…).  If one thinks that "broad IG" refers to everything and hence nothing, then it's easy to agree we shouldn't use the term anymore.  The problem is, there are in fact consequential shared rule systems pertaining to intellectual property, digital trade, global e-commerce, "information security"/cybercrime, cross-border information flow, privacy and so on, and it was with these kinds of governance systems in mind that people argued for a definition that was broader than just names and numbers.  

The understanding of what is IG is one of the arenas in which actual progress can be noted due to WSIS, IGF, etc.   It'd be a pity if we were to revert to the confusion of the period prior.

Best,

Bill


On Sep 23, 2010, at 3:02 PM, Mawaki Chango wrote:

> To address more specifically (as opposed to my previous posts in this thread) the suggestion of Internet public policy vs Internet governance, I'd generally agree with the objections raised so far: there are many more moving parts to governance than you'd have with public policy in general, and more particularly when it comes to Internet. Also, I concur that the development and implementation of public policy is just a specific form of governance among others. In reality, the mere fact that 'governance' by definition is readily open to a multistakeholder exercise, which is not necessarily the case for public policy making, should be enough to put the IISD's suggestion to rest. But allow me address some of the previous arguments. 
> 
> First, there certainly is something out there that deserves the name of IG. Second, ICANN, IETF, W3C, IETF, etc. do not trade or are not designed to trade in public policy regarding the Internet. So if the label IG is not satisfying talking about the activities conducted by those bodies and their significance to the Internet globally, IPP is certainly not better in that role. 
> 
> Second, IGF is another beast ...still evolving, maybe. At face value, the thing itself is a global agora, an open forum to whomever it may concern to participate in (and yes, dialogue and debates are the sort of things that happen in that kind of places) etc. I'll let others try a comprehensive definition of its content (what is talked about, which may not exactly coincide with what is effected) but it seems to me it will have to include IG as well as IPP issues, even though the Forum does not make such policy.
> 
> Now, if we're looking for an alternative name for IG as subject area, I'm not sure 'Information governance' is the most fitting. Key words are: network, information and communication. I understand 'information' may be the most ubiquitous of the three in terms of use for defining our era (eg, information revolution, society, etc.) But I wonder if 'Network governance' would not be a better choice, Network being a shorthand for (global) 'information and communication networks' as it is the new network diagram and architecture that has made the whole thing revolutionary, not information per se that has been with us forever. Noting that IT governance has already been captured by the corporate world (besides, the T might sound too exclusive), other options may include: 'IP governance' (IP in generic sense) and 'Internet in global governance'. But then again, in view of these results, 'global internet governance' was not such a bad candidate after all!
> 
> Best,
> 
> Mawaki
> 
> 
> 
> On Thu, Sep 23, 2010 at 2:35 AM, Jeanette Hofmann <jeanette at wzb.eu> wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> while I understand the uneasiness of assembling a broadening field of policy action under an unchanging term, I don't follow IISD's solution. In my view, public policy is just one specific form of governance, not an alternative. What might change in the long run is the other component of the term. Internet may appear to be too narrow to cover all the aspects addressed in this field. Some people now refer to information governance as a broader concept.
> 
> jeanette
> 
> 
> On 22.09.2010 20:59, McTim wrote:
> FYI:
> 
> http://www.iisd.org/pdf/2010/icts_internet_sd_new_paradigm.pdf
> 
> For those getting tired of the term "Internet Governance" (like me)
> please see bottom of page 6:
> 
> "The term “Internet governance” has been widely used since the World
> Summit on the Information Society to describe not just the technical
> management and coordination of the Internet itself (which is sometimes
> called “narrow Internet governance”), but also the
> relationship between the Internet and mainstream public policy issues
> that are affected by it (sometimes called “broad Internet
> governance”). Both of these types of issues are discussed,
> for example, in the Internet Governance Forum.
> IISD believes that the use of the term “Internet governance” for this
> wide range of issues is increasingly inappropriate, particularly where
> issues fall primarily in other public policy arenas. IISD therefore
> prefers to use the term “Internet public policy” for this wider range
> of issues"
> 
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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
www.graduateinstitute.ch/cig/drake.html
www.linkedin.com/in/williamjdrake
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