[governance] Possible model [was: rational dialogue on the oversight topic]

[Ang Peng Hwa (Prof)]

I'm coming into this discussion late because I'm (still) on vacation.

A couple of years ago, I looked into this question of what might be the constraints if an international body were to be set up for "oversight" of the Internet. The paper was presented at the 2010 symposium of the Global Internet Governance Academic Network in Vilnius.

The paper is clickable from http://giga-net.org/page/2010-annual-symposium Peng Hwa Ang and Natalie Pang, Going Beyond Talk: Can International Internet Governance Work? - ANG and PANG.pdf<http://api.ning.com/files/jwkXigWnjeUpz3PsEm*jQDIriMRnQvWRcAb7VdIsAHg1PoLefTm6sWd2kVrDxX*D*k4R*9-waGtoguraB6uvwt5gri3l8ZUg/ANGandPANG.pdf>.

To sum up: there are 3 factors to be considered in such a situation—globalization, sovereignty (of governments) and democracy (where accountability comes into the picture). The model is drawn from Dani Rodrik's trilemma of global integration. My colleague and I concluded that governments will not surrender their sovereignty easily; citizens will not surrender democracy easily. So it's globalization that has to give. We call it "thin globalization." This means that conceptually speaking, any international body will not be a truly global entity. It will likely have to be anchored in some national jurisdiction. (The model discussed would be an example of thin globalization.)

My colleague and I then ask: ok, assuming that we have thin globalization, how realistic would it be that this body can function? That is, what is needed for this body to function as oppose to malfunction? Drawing from the theory of collective action by Mancur Olsen, we concluded that there needs to be a critical mass of support. This critical mass refers more to the quality of support (think heavyweights) as opposed to quantity of support. We also said that the USA must remain involved.

Hope this sheds some light.

Regards,
Peng Hwa ANG
[cid:5DB1759F-2911-4B4A-B296-F68823552048]ANG Peng Hwa (Professor) | Director, Singapore Internet Research Centre | Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information | Nanyang Technological University | WKWSCI 02-17, 31 Nanyang Link, Singapore 639798
Tel: (65) 67906109 GMT+8h | Fax: (65) 6792-7526 | Web: www.ntu.edu.sg/sci/sirc<http://www.ntu.edu.sg/sci/sirc>




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