Excellent question Pranesh, one I have been wondering about.  I cannot answer it well for myself except to point to my history and achievements....not as good as votes. I think Civil Society needs some more rigour and not sure how we get there. 
Cheers Stephanie Perrin
On 2014-03-01, at 5:21 AM, Pranesh Prakash wrote:

> Dear Milton,
> Would you have prior writings that I can refer to (perhaps you could direct me to the right part of one of your books?) on the issue of political legitimacy for this view on stakeholder equality?  Or perhaps some social or political theorists I should be reading?
> 
> Governments, through votes or through other means, have gained political legitimacy to represent their nation-state.
> Intergovernmental organizations claim political legitimacy by being membership-driven aggregations of these nation-states, and seek to espouse the 'global' point of view (and do a poor job of it, very often).
> Business and technical organizations claim political legitimacy both by having historically been in control of this network of networks, and by the fact that there is no way possible for its continued operation without them.
> Where do civil society actors (and academics), especially those many of us who *aren't membership organizations and don't have grass routes networks* to back us, get our political legitimacy from?  What answer should we give when asked, "Who died and made you king/queen/boss/co-equal?"
> 
> Regards,
> Pranesh
> 
> Milton L Mueller <[log in to unmask]> [2014-02-26 23:18:23]:
>> Dear fellow NCSG members:
>> 
>> I am involved in preparing two submissions to the Brazil meeting. One, with Brenden Kuerbis, is a detailed proposal for globalization of IANA. It is not ready yet, but watch for it.
>> 
>> The other is a proposed principle about stakeholder equality. That statement is ready for your viewing and comment here:
>> https://docs.google.com/document/d/1tuWn6tnQBFhXKz6FumabAHpG3zfCNx2ZBPzWNw3Ifo4/edit?usp=sharing
>> 
>> It's a short 2-pager, 600 words. I just want to test the waters and see how much support there is for this or whether it needs major revisions.
>> 
>> 
>> Milton Mueller
>> Professor, Syracuse University School of Information Studies
>> http://faculty.ischool.syr.edu/mueller/
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
> 
> -- 
> Pranesh Prakash
> Policy Director, Centre for Internet and Society
> T: +91 80 40926283 | W: http://cis-india.org
> -------------------
> Access to Knowledge Fellow, Information Society Project, Yale Law School
> M: +1 520 314 7147 | W: http://yaleisp.org
> PGP ID: 0x1D5C5F07 | Twitter: https://twitter.com/pranesh_prakash
>