1.3.2.3 The At-Large Membership

The third potential avenue for public participation in ICANN lies in the establishment of a broadly diverse At-Large Membership (ALM).

A concept that is anticipated in the foundational documents of ICANN (such as the White Paper), the ALM has yet to be adequately defined and institutionalized in ICANN's framework of operations. The ALM remains the great-and unrealized-potential opportunity for public participation in ICANN.

The ALM has been organized to date only in the context of the election for five board seats held in October 2000. Although voting for board members may remain an important function of the ALM, its role should not be limited to serving as the electorate for At-Large director seats. Indeed, if the only role of the ALM is to participate in elections, the full potential for public participation in ICANN will remain unrealized, and even the role it plays in electing directors will be underdeveloped.

The ALM can serve diverse goals of participation, representation and accountability. In fulfilling each of these functions, a fully developed ALM will strengthen the legitimacy of ICANN to make the kinds of policy-based decisions about the functioning of the Internet in which it is now engaged.

In fostering participation, the ALM could become a means for communication and outreach to the broader public for ICANN. The ALM could create empowerment of the public, and empowerment yields a sense of collaboration. It could also be a channel for consultation and input into organizational decision-making. Institutionalizing this sort of participation might be done through ALM forums or meetings that can be convened in conjunction with each ICANN meeting, or through the development of online mechanisms. The ALM could be structured into more manageable sub-units or committees by region or by issue, or by some combination of both.

In fostering representation, the ALM can serve as the electorate for the At-Large board seats. Representation through election can make participation operative and give it meaning. The election could be structured in different ways, including the direct election not only of directors to the ICANN board, but also, for instance, to an At-Large Council which can serve as an intermediary entity between the general At-Large membership and the ICANN board. When the ICANN board is perceived as representative, then the mode and degree of participation can be balanced to adapt to the goals and mission of the ICANN, the heterogeneity and size of the community, and the need for stability and efficiency.

Finally, in fostering accountability, the ALM can serve as a kind of public "watchdog" on the actions of the board, and can be a means to ensure that, at minimum, the elected At-Large directors reflect the views and interests of Internet users and act in a responsible manner. Accountability devices may include, for instance, the specific creation of substantive and procedural rules designed to enable board member responsiveness and a set of ex post mechanisms to allow responses to decisions (including rationales and justification for those decisions).

The ALM is a key piece of the structure of ICANN that has not yet been brought to maturity. Developing the ALM is necessary to make elections work in virtually any form. But institutionalizing the other roles of the ALM in providing the means for participation and accountability, as well as representation, will have additional and equally important consequences for establishing the public legitimacy of ICANN.

1.3.2.2 Participation through governments

2. Lessons and Challenges: The 2000 At-Large Election