Contested Meanings of Inclusiveness, Accountability and Transparency in Trade Policymaking

Abstract

Inclusiveness, accountability and transparency carry different meanings in the context of different public policy processes, and for different stakeholder groups engaged in those processes. In particular, civil society has had a substantial role in conceptualising these meanings in internet governance policy spaces, but a much reduced rule in their explication in trade policymaking. It will be argued that greater support for trade policymaking could arise from a project to reconcile civil society’s expectations of the inclusiveness, accountability and transparency of trade negotiations with the political realities of the trade negotiator, while at the same time enhancing negotiators’ appreciation of the metrics that civil society stakeholders will use in assessing trade negotiations, especially those that relate to the internet.

Keywords: GigaNet