Problem:
Competition is a major problem of implementation of any
good decision.
Solution:
Implementation of Simultaneous Policy.
THE
SIMULTANEOUS POLICY
John Bunzl.
The
principal barrier to implementation of any significant
measure to improve today's environmental, economic or
social problems, be they in advanced, developing or
non-industrialised countries, is destructive competition.
Global de-regulated capital flows and corporations know
no national boundaries and by their ability or threat to
move elsewhere, force nations to compete with one another
for capital, jobs (and therefore votes) and ever scarcer
natural resources.
With
increased government reliance on capital markets to
finance public deficits and on corporations to maintain
employment, internationally mobile capital effectively
precludes the implementation of any national policy that
might incur market or corporate displeasure. The markets
have consequently engineered strong leverage over the
economic, social and environmental policies adopted by
any country ensuring that only market-friendly,
neo-liberal policies are pursued - regardless of the
party in power. The result is the strangle-hold of
pseudo-democracy in which, whatever party we elect, the
policies delivered remain substantially the same. Since
virtually all nations are part of an increasingly
integrated global economy, they are all subject to the
same strangle-hold. In advanced countries, it is exerted
directly by the market itself, ably assisted by the WTO;
in developing countries, by the market and through
"structural adjustment" imposed by the IMF or
the World Bank; in non-industrialised countries by the
virtual absence of any foreign direct investment leaving
them to the consequences of warfare, poverty, disease,
increasing numbers of refugees and so on.
No nation
can exit from this predicament by seeking to re-regulate
financial markets because such action would cause capital
flight, devaluation and inflation if not outright
economic collapse. Similarly, policies that seek to
address environmental or social problems requiring higher
public spending or higher costs for industry are
precluded on the grounds of uncompetitiveness, adverse
market reaction and the threat of job losses. In
de-regulating capital markets, nations have therefore
unleashed a force they can no longer unilaterally control
- a global competitive merry-go-round now spinning so
fast that no nation can get off (unless it is forcibly
ejected by the market itself).
This paper
therefore argues, firstly, that politics - regardless of
the party in power - has effectively been paralysed into
a market-friendly position from which it cannot escape.
Secondly it argues that fundamental changes to the
capitalist system are essential before there can be any
hope of closing the 'sustainability gap' or of expecting
any tangible results from international agreements on
reduced emissions. Thirdly, since capitalism can only be
changed and controlled by politics - which has itself
already been paralysed - we are heading for
environmental, economic or social collapse without the
means to alter that course. Solutions that fail to
address the central barrier to reform that global free
markets and international competition represent are
therefore effectively dead in the water.
In spite of
this state of affairs, this book sets out a feasible
means not only of regaining control of global financial
markets and corporations, but of going much further
towards creating the conditions for a global society and
economy more compatible with Nature and the needs of
human nature. The disturbing growth of far-right
political parties is a sure sign that failure to do so
could well prove catastrophic. This book therefore argues
that a fundamental transformation from international
competition to global cooperation is required, for only
through global co-operation between nation states can
destructive competition be eliminated and meaningful
changes implemented. Crucially, it also sets out a
practical method of achieving this. It therefore
represents something of a "missing link"
without which the many solutions now being proposed by
leading economists and ecologists are likely to remain
confined largely to theory.
To break the
vicious circle of global competition, both between
nations and between corporations, all nations need to act
simultaneously by implementing the Simultaneous Policy
(SP); a range of measures to re-regulate global markets
and corporations in order to restore genuine democracy,
environmental protection and peace around the world. SP
thus calls upon peoples all over the world to recognise
the futility of conventional party politics and to unite
both by taking policy out of the hands of politicians
and, by force of their numbers and their votes, by
bringing political parties into competition with one
another to adopt SP. By separating the adoption of SP
from its implementation, SP transcends party-political
differences and allows voters, NGOs, politicians and
governments to adopt it without risking their respective
personal or national interests. It therefore represents
political action of a kind not yet seen: a New Politics
of cooperation and community which transcends both the
divisions of conventional party politics and the dilemmas
of maintaining international competitiveness. SP thus
offers a real prospect - perhaps the only prospect - of
beneficial change and survival.
This New
Politics has profound implications for North-South
relations, the global environment, world economics,
global governance, Green parties, non-governmental
organisations, international relations, national domestic
politics and, not least, for the triumph of the human
spirit.
John M.
Bunzl is the Director of International Simultaneous
Policy Organisation (ISPO)
ABOUT THE
BOOK:
"The
Simultaneous Policy - An Insider's Guide to Saving
Humanity and the Planet".
by John Bunzl.
(With Foreword by Diana Schumacher)
Publication due Summer 2001. New European Publications,
14-16 Carroun Road,
London SW8 1JT. Tel/Fax: +44 (0)20 7582 3996
Distributed by:
Central Books, 99 Wallis Road, London E9 5LN
Tel: +44 (0)20 8986 4854 Fax: +44 (0)20 8533 5821
ISBN 0-1872410-15-4 Price: £12.95
Pre-publication copies (without foreword) available now
from ISPO
info@simpol.org Please ask for details.
List of book endorsements follows:
"I thought your proposal was an elegant idea of how
change could occur. It reflects the core ideas of how to
create consensus around change. This is the biggest
challenge that we have"
Ed Mayo
Executive Director, New Economics Foundation
"Is it a good idea? My answer is: Maybe it could
prove to be."
James Robertson
Former cabinet policy maker and author of
'Schumacher Briefing 1 - Transforming Economic Life'
"It is a good idea. What we need is politicians who
will give this issue a high priority."
Polly Toynbee
The Guardian
"Your idea for a simultaneous policy is excellent. .
Lets hope that people start to listen to this important
message."
Helena Norberg-Hodge
Co-founder of the International Forum on Globalisation
and Director of the International Society for Ecology
& Culture
"It's ambitious and provocative. Can it work?
Certainly worth a serious try."
Noam Chomsky
".the basic concept is excellent. . Let me know what
develops!"
Jakob von Uexkull
Founder and Chairman - Right Livelihood Award Foundation
"The Simultaneous Policy is a creative proposal to
accelerate progress toward a sustainable global economy.
Many movements and grassroots globalists working for
these goals can coalesce around such innovative
initiatives."
Hazel Henderson
Author of 'Beyond Globalization: Shaping a Sustainable
Global Economy'
".well argued and well thought out. It goes against
our bias for the human scale but may be necessary."
Nicholas Albery
Chairman - The Institute for Social Inventions
".compelling and provocative. The structure and
progression of the [book] fit your argument
perfectly."
Moises Naim
Editor-in-Chief - Foreign Policy. USA
"Your main theme is a crucial one and I hope it will
be heeded. .your approach is unusual because most authors
concentrate on 'what' first and leave 'how' as a
secondary consideration - or duck it altogether."
David Griffiths
Author of 'All This and Unemployment Too'.
"...I believe [the Simultaneous Policy] offers a
prophetic and practical approach to the global
politico-economic problems of our generation...
Certainly it is one which would appeal to Quakers."
Stephen Whiting
Quaker Peace and Service - London.
"Bunzl is, I feel, the first writer on the
'sustainable society' to advance beyond rhetoric and
grapple with the problem of how such a society might be
achieved."
Dr. Aidan Rankin
'New European' (European Business Review) - UK.
"Working from an East-West perspective in which the
interdependency of Buddhism combines with the economics
of E.F. Schumacher, Bunzl argues for a program of
restoring social control over the blind destructiveness
of corporate globalisation by simultaneous government
policies across world
borders. The need for simultaneity of sovereign state
action is an important new dimension of a debate
affecting all planetary life."
John McMurtry
Author of 'The Cancer Stage of Capitalism'
"Your [book] eloquently describes the crucial
problems facing the world today. It explores the
inadequacy of the nation state in dealing with these
problems and the inability of the United Nations to move
beyond its current constraints. Simultaneous Policy is an
elegant theory which takes many ideas from different
places. We must all work to bring these ideas from theory
into practice."
Simon Burall
Executive Director, One World Trust
(in his personal capacity).
"...the financial world order has become quite
cancerous to both people and the planet and what is
needed are intelligent and creative solutions appropriate
to the situation. Your proposal to create a level playing
field for all that incorporates environmentally
sustainable policies is just such a creative
solution."
Richard St. George
Director, the Schumacher Society
(in his personal capacity)
"Simultaneous Policy is a most promising strategy
for discovering and establishing a more equitable,
efficient and sustainable economic order." Shann
Turnbull
Author of 'Democratizing the Wealth of Nations'
"The concept of Simultaneous Policy (SP) is a
wonderful way of implementing cooperation which is the
new law of human survival in the globalized world. With
it goes moral education inducing a new system of values
to satisfy the requirements of the New Age."
Dr. Farhang Sefidvash
Coordinator of the Research Centre for Global Governance
"...we concur with your comprehensive and insightful
analysis of the challenge before us. We also agree that
social and environmental programmes are being
subordinated to the demands of the global economy and
that, if there is a meaningful remedy to hand, yours is
as constructive as any we've seen to date."
Roger Doudna
International Programme Officer, Restore The Earth
Project - Scotland.
" I must admit that the Simultaneous Policy is a
very provocative document. When you start reading this
document, it evokes sharp reactions within you because it
challenges the alternative visions and ideas that are
closer to your heart and mind. But, by the time you
finish it, you realize that there are a host of
alternatives to existing alternative visions and
strategies for the betterment of our lives."
Kavaljit Singh - Author of 'A Citizen's Guide to the
Globalization of
Finance' and 'Taming Global Financial Flows'
Tim Noonam of the World Business Academy envisions an
Intellectual Overhaul that would lead to a Worldwide
Megashift in the perception of Reality, the kind of shift
which according to him, historian Lewis Mumford claims
has occurred only three or four times in recorded
history. The late Dr. Willis Harman, Founder of the
Institute of Neotic Sciences, prophesized that the latter
part of this century would witness a fundamental
Transformation; to me, the Simultaneous Policy has all
these potentials. What a great Intellectual and Academic
Project for this century! Monday Wehere -
Founder/President, the Wehere Foundation, Nigeria.
"...the great merit of your [book] is its proposal
for a plausible solution to the many questions, whose
urgency much of the left seems prepared to ignore."
Dorothy Friedmann
Green Socialist Network - London.
"Mr. Bunzl's vision of all nation's agreeing on a
Simultaneous Policy of co-operation for world peace,
sustainable world development, and alleviation of poverty
is mankind's one hope of a sustainable quality lifestyle
for,all."
J.W. Smith
The Institute for Economic Democracy - USA
"Wishing you God speed in your endeavours to
progress our humankind with the Simultaneous
Policy!"
Godric Bader
Life President - Scott Bader Commonwealth Ltd.
".....a very timely publication. I entirely agree
with you that we should bring about a paradigm shift from
competition to cooperation and from patronage to
partnership."
M S Swaminathan
Office of the UNESCO Cousteau Chair in Ecotechnology
&
Chairman, M S Swaminathan Research Foundation
"Simultaneous Policy is the first book I have seen
that offers any real hope of achieving the reforms
necessary to overcome global threats to the environment
and human welfare."
Richard A. Stimson Author of 'Playing with the Numbers:
How So-called
Experts Mislead Us about the Economy'
"...the best ideas are the simplest. With a system
like this, there's no way for governments to wriggle out.
All excuses evaporate. It's a system which unmasks all
those seeking to hide behind theoretical impossibilites.
I can't wait to see what follows. Well done SP!"
Jackie Navarro
ATTAC - Québec, Canada.
(Campaigning for the Tobin Tax)
"In a time where so many urgent symptoms claim our
attention, it seems there is not enough courage nor time
to address the fundamental roots of global present
problems and viable roads to face them. The Simultaneous
Policy is a simple, peaceful, low-risk and clear
invitation for humankind to jump - in two steps - from a
present spiral headed toward auto-destruction, into
another one oriented toward life, cooperation and
spiritual growth. To share is to live."
Emilio José Chaves
".the SP proposal is a practical means of moving
toward global governance. It should be an effective means
of achieving cooperation where any individual government
that behaves cooperatively will be disadvantaged until
all other governments also do so. .I wish you the best of
luck with your important work."
John Stewart
Author of 'Evolution's Arrow: the Direction of
Evolution and the Future of Humanity.'
"I am sure that The Simultaneous Policy is likely to
be of great interest [as] a way of striving for an
alternative whilst being integrated in the current
economic system..."
Suzanne Ismail
Economic Issues Programme Co-ordinator
Quaker Peace & Service - London, UK
A comment passed on to me:
"Isn't John Bunzl's Simultaneous Policy good
stuff?"
Lucy Storrs
World Voices UK
".an essential contribution to the debate that is
taking place at this time of transition and rapid change
in society."
Dominic Dibble
World Goodwill - London
|