[governance] stakeholder categories (was Re: NSA sabotage of Internet security standards...)

[Norbert Bollow]

JFC Morfin <jefsey at jefsey.com> wrote:
> At 18:43 18/09/2013, Norbert Bollow wrote:
>> Peter H. Hellmonds <peter.hellmonds at hellmonds.eu> wrote:
>>> 
>>> Perhaps we need to make a phone call to clarify
>>> things. I'll send you my number in a private mail. We can then
>>> discuss offline and inform the list of the outcome.
>> 
>> Update: Peter and I have talked and have amicably resolved the
>> issue between us.
>
> I am glad of that. However, the matter raised key general issues that
> have to be discussed outside of friendly phone talk. I concatenate
> them.

Of course I just intended to say what has been amicably resolved is
the interpersonal aspect of misunderstanding each other to some degree,
and resulting interpersonal tensions.

Substantively, Peter and I still agree to some extent and disagree to
some extent and we don't have a problem with that.

One point on which I had not communicated clearly enough in my postings
is that in my mind OF COURSE EVERYONE IS A MEMBER OF CIVIL SOCIETY in
the sense of everyone being equally part of the general “public
interest” constituency that many civil society representatives claim to
represent. (There are also narrower constituencies, such as e.g.
“persons with visual disabilities” whose representatives should of
course likewise be recognized as “civil society representatives”.) 

My remarks about the importance of working on maintaining reasonably
strong independence from government and private sector particular
interests (related to the topic area under discussion) refer not to who
is part of “civil society” as a constituency, but to participation
in multistakeholder processes as “civil society representatives”.

If we want credible civil society representation, we need to work on
our credibility.

I'm not suggesting to introduce gatekeepers of any kind who would
execute some kind of formal process of verification.

But I think that it would be of significant value to have much more
transparency on funding etc. We could even develop a formal standard
with requirements on what kinds of disclosures individuals and
organizations who want to engage as formal “civil society
representatives” should make at a minimum.

As I wrote, such a narrowing of who participates in multistakeholder
processes under the “civil society” banner must be balanced by at the
same time introducing a way for people to participate without making a
claim of specifically being a representative that fits into the any
particular of three primary categories of stakeholder representatives.
Hence the new “multi/other” category in my proposal.

By the way, besides the four categories of stakeholder representatives
“GOV” (government and intergovernmental organization representatives),
“CS” (civil society representatives), “BIZ” (business/private sector
representatives), “M/O” (multi/other stakeholder representatives),
there should probably be an additional registration option “TGO” for
representatives of technical governance organizations such as the
specialized Internet governance institutions, technical standardization
committees, etc. I don't think that it makes sense to classify TGOs
as a stakeholder category, but the TGOs exist in order to make
multistakeholder governance work in a way that is generally acceptable,
from perspectives which include the perspectives of all the primary
categories of stakeholder group representatives, and hence it is
obviously important to explicitly include TGO representatives in the
discussions.  

Greetings,
Norbert

-- 
Recommendations for effective and constructive participation in IGC:
1. Respond to the content of assertions and arguments, not to the person
2. Be conservative in what you send, be liberal in what you accept


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