For the uninitiated, the World Trade Organization is run by its member governments. Unlike FIFA, IOC, and ICANN, it does not sell a product to consumers. It facilitates the production of laws and agreements between member states. If you buy Bueno de Mesquita's selectorate theory, the WTO has a very small set of residents, which is identical to the selectorate and the winning coalition. The FIFA, IOC, and ICANN have a very large set of residents, a very small selectorate, and a very secure winning coalition, which is a recipe for corruption.
What’s your take on something like the ITU? My first reaction would be that because there’s a lot more riding on it, it’d be susceptible to intractable politics... but maybe I’m overthinking it.
ITU is under the United Nations, so it's more like the WTO.
I feel like that's the way ICANN should have gone, and it is probably worth it to just buy out the organization and put it under the UN. Either that or some version of decentralized DNS is going to start looking really attractive and ICANN will become the equivalent of a failed state.
I agree, but even that is far from ideal because which government should control it?