(No.167) Understanding multistakeholderism and IG capacity building in quasi-democratic or authoritarian countries

It is very difficult to translate the term "multistakeholderism" into different languages. It is not only linguistic problem, but also cultural, historical, economical, and, finally, political one.
The roles of government, business and civic society in quasi-democratic or authoritarian countries are not well separated, first of all because of using public money or public resources as the main source of the personal enrichment. Under close examinations politicians reveal themselves as businessmen, businessmen have extremely close relations with politics, and NGOs prosper on money of politicians or businessmen, or on both.
And all of them are extremely interested in NOT delivering to their citizens free access to knowledge, information, communication, and, finally, to understanding of the concept of multistakeholderism.
IGF, ICANN, regional and national IG initiatives can help to overcome this bottle-neck, even if such countries do not participate in these fora on official level. But such efforts demand a lot of support from adequate parties (for example, from the Council of Europe for the Eastern European countries).
To share multistakeholderism values on the global level it is necessary to put them as the major priority for all IG stakeholders, regardless their regional affiliation. Summer Schools on Internet Governance, ICANN Fellowship and ICANN Academy, ISOC Ambassadors, Diplo Foundation have to create critical mass to raise awareness and to promote media and internet literacy. The idea of multiple mirrors of all these initiatives, together with capacity building with all their participants, can really change the world order.
Agenda
00.00  Oksana Prykhodko - Greetings and brief overview of the workshop's agenda and objective.
00.05  All panelists - introduction, stakeholder self-identification, motivation for participation in IG.
00.20  All panelists - Explanation of their own stakeholder’s role in IG. What do government, civil society, business and international organizations have to do in IG?  What are the main problems with fulfilling of their own roles? What are the main difficulties in explaining multistakeholder approach?
00.45  All panelists - What do they expect from other stakeholders?
00.60 All participants - Questions and answers, discussion
00.80 All panelists - Concluding remarks and next steps from all panelists
00.85 Oksana Prykhodko - Concluding summary from workshop organizer
00.90 The end