[ST-WP] [CCWG-ACCT] Fwd: [CCWG-Advisors] jan comments on 17 april ccwg materials

[Rudolph Daniel]

Of note, Jan's comments are very valuable; the one which sticks out in my
mind would be;

"How does one ensure that the community empowerment mechanism does not
become a vehicle for capture of ICANN by insider activists?"

RD
On Apr 20, 2015 6:02 AM, "Mathieu Weill" <mathieu.weill at afnic.fr> wrote:

>  Dear Colleagues,
>
> Please find below a contribution on our draft public comment report by Jan
> Aart Scholte, in his capacity as one of our Advisors.
>
> Best regards,
> Mathieu
>
>
> -------- Message transféré --------  Sujet : [CCWG-Advisors] jan comments
> on 17 april ccwg materials  Date : Mon, 20 Apr 2015 07:19:58 +0000  De : Jan
> Aart Scholte <jan.scholte at globalstudies.gu.se>
> <jan.scholte at globalstudies.gu.se>  Pour : CCWG-Advisors
> <ccwg-advisors at icann.org> <ccwg-advisors at icann.org>,
> jordan at internetnz.net.nz <jordan at internetnz.net.nz>
> <jordan at internetnz.net.nz>
>
>  Hello All
>
>
>
> Great to see that CCWG continues to make impressive headway after the
> productive Istanbul meeting. Many thanks, Adam, for your thorough briefing
> accompanying the documents circulated on Friday. My read of the materials
> prompts the following thoughts, mainly concerning the community empowerment
> mechanism:
>
>
>
> (1) The community empowerment mechanism increasingly looks to be based on
> SOs and ACs. A key question of course remains with what distribution of
> seats, and also whether any other body such as GAC or SSAC would have a
> voting representation.
>
>
>
> (2) Would any adjustments in the AC and SO constructions be advisable at
> this juncture, concurrent with the IANA transition, in order that 'the
> Community' as institutionalised in the empowerment mechanism aligns
> sufficiently closely with the present actual constellation of ICANN
> stakeholders in the world at large?
>
>
>
> (3) How (and how readily) could the the formula which constitutes 'the
> Community' in the empowerment mechanism be adjusted in future, as and when
> the prevailing arrangement is found inadequately to reflect the
> constellation of ICANN stakeholders at that future time? Consider how
> difficult it has been to adjust membership of the UN Security Council and
> the Boards of the Bretton Woods institutions, which remain largely frozen
> in the world of 1945. The world of 2045 is likely to be quite different
> from that of 2015 - will ICANN's constitution allow it readily to change
> with the times?
>
>
>
> (4) Related to (3), could overly high supermajorities have unwanted
> consequences of excessive constitutional conservatism? To be sure, too low
> a threshold could invite constitutional instability, but too high a
> threshold could invite institutional ossification. For example,
> constitutional reform of the International Monetary Fund has been so
> difficult in good part because an 85% vote is needed to alter the Articles
> of Agreement, which has effectively entrenched a US Government veto.
>
>
>
> (5) Then there is that ever-present thorn of the accountability of those
> who hold ICANN to account. How will participants in the empowerment
> mechanism be held accountable to wider stakeholder circles, both within
> ICANN (i.e. the ACs and SOs) *and beyond*? Legislators in democratic
> nation-states are subject to election by the general population, but
> delegates in the ICANN 'parliament' would only be elected by ACs and SOs,
> whose connections to wider constituencies - and that so-called 'global
> public interest' - can be quite thin? How does one ensure that the
> community empowerment mechanism does not become a vehicle for capture of
> ICANN by insider activists?
>
>
>
> Happy for this note to be made available to all CCWG if thought suitable.
> Not sure about the protocols of advisors' communications.
>
>
>
> Greetings
>
>
>
> Jan
>
>
>
>
>
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>
>
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