AW: [WSIS CS-Plenary] Civil society activism andCommunication-information policy

Thu Jul 15 21:59:14 BST 2004

Milton,

Thanks for this.

Liss,

I would be interested to see your comparison as well.

You did not comment on the calls by the Convervative Party in Canada
during the election, albeit in an internal policy briefing, to remake the
CRTC (the rough equivalent to the US FCC).

Best,

WJM

>
> A comparison with Canada may prove useful on the US question. there are
> substantial differences rooted in part in differences between US and
> Canada
> on whether government should fund advocacy groups. (Many cdn groups think
> so, and often see private sector as more dangerous than government, quite
> different from picture in US).
>
> Soon I will be able to read your full report Milton, and also to send more
> notes on our off-line thinking about governance and civil society, as
> promised in previous message.
>
> I wonder whether the test is "focused, ideological positions." Perhaps,
> but
> that may miss the forest for the trees. Mass appeal advocacy groups often
> get fuzzy around the edges, much to the chagrin of their more
> fundamentalist supporters - take the spectrum of views in the
> environmental
> movements (pardon my pun). Some of us of course are not too keen on narrow
> ideological views. If democracy is in part a pattern of disagreement, then
> the more specific your position, the more opposition you are likely to
> attract. Sticking to generally accepted values, for the sake of agreement
> and general appeal, and elevating style over substance is the prevailing
> pattern everywhere ( if they can get away with it, what party in what
> country post TV is not doing this lowest common denominator dance, I ask?)
>
> It is also important to note the difference in Parliamentary systems
> between first past the post and the variety of proportional representation
> systems. In the latter, more  focused, even extreme groups can go
> somewhere, but in a first past the post system like the Canadian (where
> the
> issue of proportional representation is very much in debate now), the
> "left" party, The New Democrats did not win so many seats despite an
> increase in popular vote, because they tried to appeal nationally and
> appear credible as possible contenders for federal power,  while the Bloc
> Quebecois did very well by remaining regionally focused (and slyly quiet
> about their ideological slant, pro separation until election night, after
> the votes were counted.).
>
> Sorry if this is too off track -- over and out
> back soon with cs and governance ideas
> Liss Jeffrey
> eCommons/agora
>
>
> At 03:05 PM 15/07/2004, Milton Mueller wrote:
>
>
>> >>> kleinwaechter at medienkomm.uni-halle.de 07/15/04 11:55AM >>>
>> >But we have to look also beyond US and Congressional Hearings.
>>
>>Definitely. That is Phase 2 for us. In the current phase of the project,
>>we concentrate on transnational collective action and international
>>institutions, including WSIS.
>>
>>I suspect that there are major differences in interest group
>>organization in Europe, Asia and the U.S. The absence of a
>>parliamentary system in the U.S. means that focused, ideological
>>positions cannot be represented by parties and so must be
>>represented by advocacy groups.
>>
>>Your theses on NWICO as the end of "top-down" and WSIS as "bottom up"
>>approaches are interesting, and if you feel like working in English I
>>invite you (in my role as associate editor of The Information Society)
>>to submit something along those lines.
>>
>>--MM
>>
>>
>>
>>_______________________________________________
>>Plenary mailing list
>>Plenary at wsis-cs.org
>>http://mailman.greennet.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/plenary
>
> _______________________________________________
> Plenary mailing list
> Plenary at wsis-cs.org
> http://mailman.greennet.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/plenary
>

-- 
<html>
<br>
Bill McIver<br>
Assistant Professor<br>
School of Information Science and Policy<br>
University at Albany, State University of New York<br>
Albany, New York 12222<br>
USA<br><br>

e-mail: <a href="mailto:mciver at albany.edu">mciver at albany.edu</a><br>

URL: <a href="http://www.albany.edu/~mciver">
http://www.albany.edu/~mciver </a><br>
</html>