The Internet has changed the way we see and consider democracy. Yet, with all the early enthusiasm of the Internet’s democratization capabilities, many different indices including from Freedom House, are indicating a trend of receding democracy, even to the emergence of “democratators”, mass surveillance and online opinion wars. Where the Internet has helped to progress democratic movements that have achieved revolutionary results, some are regressing equally spectacularly.

What we think of as democracy’s standard constitutional structure: representative democracy (Democracy 2.0) is challenged by Internet’s ability to facilitate participative democracy (Democracy 1.0) to a point where constituency and representation must be rethought. Disruptive ideas such as Deliberative Democracy and Liquid Democracy are ushering new possibilities of democratic deployment to harness the growing interest of the increasingly informed electorate to play a direct role in public governance.

What about the Multistakeholder model of Internet governance? What can it contribute to our larger movement in democracy beyond the representative model? On the other hand, can Internet governance forums provide experimental grounds for these newer ideas of democracy? Imagine how Liquid democracy might work for ICANN? Is the IETF NomCom already a form of deliberative democracy?

This session aims to delve into the complex question of whether what we champion as the multistakeholder model “Can in fact be considered democratic?”, and if so “how can we make it more democratic?” And also on the flip side, what, if any, can the Internet governance experience inform the larger discourse on democracy’s development?