To add: New TLDs would allow countries (one of the main constituencies of ICANN) to identify themselves better than by their two-letter code. These new TLDs might be full ASCII spellings of the country's preferred name, or they might be IDNs of the country's preferred name in the country's correct spelling. I disagree with Chris about "competition" as being important. It would be nice, but it also seems hopelessly doomed to over-governance and thus won't ever be useful.