Juuso

Submission of Suggestions or Ideas for Issues to be discussed at the 2014 IGF

Finnish Multistakeholder WSIS Group



The 2014 IGF takes place at an interesting juncture, after a number of important Internet Governance-related meetings in the spring and summer.  The IGF needs to be able to react to what is coming from the Netmundial in Sao Paulo, (but also CSTD ECWG, ICANN At-Large summit  and WSIS+10 high level event)  at least for two reasons: to carry  the discussion forward on all worthwhile ideas emanating from these processes, and to preserve the role of IGF as the Internet Governance event of the year, where all the different streams come together.  This means that the MAG and the Secretariat need to show extraordinary agility and flexibility in setting up the program and in accommodating changes at a short notice.



As far as themes and subject areas are concerned, we would like to focus on operationalizing the multistakeholder model, building upon the discussions in Bali and elsewhere. It is encouraging that over a few years, the multistakeholder model has been accepted and embraced by virtually all. However, the consensus remains fragile as long as it covers different interpretations that various actors may have about what it means and how it would actually work in connection of Internet Governance. The mantra has been universally accepted, now it needs to be turned into method.  The workshop would bring together people who already have given a great deal of thought to multistakeholderism in Internet Governance, as well as experts from other areas where multistakeholder approaches have been tried.