Who is responsible for ICANN stakeholder group charters?
One of the fallacies gaining currency in ICANN is that the restructuring and thus the formation of stakeholder groups is a top-down activity and thus the Board and ICANN Policy Staff have a right to command the constituencies and the stakeholders on what they may and may not do.
As I said this is a fallacy. A dangerous fallacy that risks tearing and twisting the fabric of ICANN at a time when it should be working on important substantive issues - and not spending most of its Policy energy on structural arguments.
It is true that according to the bylaws the final decision rests with the Board in its governance role of checks and balances. And it is true that the initial decision as to how the groupings would be made, was made by the Board after consultation with the GNSO. But I dispute the assumption that it is therefore up to the Board and the ICANN Policy Staff to determine how the groups, stakeholders and constituencies, are to be formed and organized. The duty of the Board is to review and approve or send back for further work, any proposal that comes from the bottom-up process. It is not for them to order the people to organize in a particular way. It is not for them to create constituencies or write charters for the stakeholder groups. Constituencies need to spring from the needs of the community. And charters need to be harmonious with the nature of the community that makes up the group. Anything else is an invitation for failure.
And it is the duty of of the ICANN Policy Staff to try and help bridge the differences between the Board’s vision and the people’s vision. It is not for them to either impose their understanding of the Board’s vision or their own agenda. ICANN Policy Staff is only fulfilling it proper role and it responsibility when it is supportive and is a consensus building organization. It cannot be an advocacy group. It must not be an advocacy group.
One cannot drive the organization of the stakeholders from a centralized position. Yes, there needs to be a give and take between the people who are governing themselves and the Board which assumes responsibility to the community at large. But it is a give and take that is formed through dialogue and not through imposition.
ICANN prides itself and advertises itself as a multistakeholder organization. One of the fundamental characteristics of a multistakeholder organizations is the self organization of the stakeholder groups and the bottom-up self formation of constituencies.
It is time for ICANN to start acting like the multistakeholder organization it advertises itself to be.
