Supra-national Governance: The Vexing Problem of Legitimacy Hans Klein School of Public Policy Georgia Tech 1

Globalization • WTO, IMF, NAFTA • Make policy • Legitimacy contested 2

Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) • Private • Under US authority • “Technical coordination” • Policy role • Bases of legitimacy 3

Expertise • “No policy role” • But: intellectual property, pricing • Experts employed by interested parties – Internet supply industry • Coalitions with interested parties – WIPO 4

Competition • “Competitive market for domain names” • But: retail market only • monopoly at wholesale level • Base price regulated • PTT model 5

US Government • “Ultimate authority lies in Dept. of Commerce” • But: National sovereignty at global level – “AmerICANN” • Ambiguity – DoC refers to ICANN – ICANN refers to DoC 6

Bylaws: Stakeholder Self-Governance • “Balanced board” (1998) – Experts, users • Not implemented – Secret appointment of initial Board – Expert directors implemented – User directors delayed • Revision to by-laws – Elimination of principle of balance • Capture?

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ICANN: Promise and Peril • What precedent for governance?

• Current direction: – Loss of legitimacy • Potential for positive precedent – Democracy beyond the nation state – Example for other sectors 8