I have just published the slides of my presentation to GigaNet titled "“The Sovereign Right of States”: Why Multi-Stakeholder Policy Development is Possible and Necessary" (which are still worth reading if you've read my proposal of the same name, as they're quite different). You can view them online, or download the source in OpenDocument format, licensed under the same terms as this site.

A brief excerpt to whet your appetite:

How is the IGF doing?

• The Advisory Council lacks legitimacy
• Its appointment process was not transparent
• Decisions are made on a closed mailing list
• Democratic or consensual accountability is absent
• The format of the meeting lacks effectiveness
• Structured as a conference not an organisation
• No procedures for building consensus
• Remote participants not treated equally

What needs to be done?

• The Advisory Council should be reformed
• It should be smaller and more transparent
• An open, multi-stakeholder Nominations Committee should appoint its members for two year terms
• New structures are needed within the IGF
• Workshops should evolve into Working Groups
• Formed or dissolved on application to the Council
• IGF in plenary ratifies this and their output

I have also finished half of Chapter 4 of my thesis on "Collaborative decision-making", which is the last of it I'll be able to finish before the IGF meets. You can also read that online or download it, but remember to stop reading after section 4.2 titled "Authoritarian" (ie. before you get to section 4.3 "Democratic"), because that's the last section that's finished.

(Oh, there are problems with the references in the downloadable versions of the thesis at the moment. I'm working on it and it will be fixed real soon now.)