[governance] My thoughts on the failure of "enhanced cooperation"

[Mueller, Milton L]

On January 31 a United Nations-based working group with grand ambitions for making "global public policy" for the Internet terminated its activities without accomplishing anything. The WGEC held five meetings over two years, based on a mandate that was established in 2005. But in the end it was unable to agree on any recommendations. For those in the know, this failure is completely unsurprising. So why bother to write about an obscure UN working group that couldn't make a decision?

Because the WGEC provides an object lesson in how not to do global internet governance. More specifically, it shows why it is futile to rely on states and intergovernmental processes for the development of global public policies for the Internet. It also shows why diplomatic attempts to obscure hard choices with vague words don't succeed - they just waste everyone's time.

https://www.internetgovernance.org/2018/02/10/goodbye-good-riddance-enhanced-cooperation/
Dr. Milton L. Mueller
Professor, School of Public Policy
Georgia Institute of Technology

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