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Policy proposals

The following policies are not made as a definitive statement of policy but are suggestions from SP Adopters' Groups and individual Adopters. You can give your views on them by following the link labelled 'more' by each suggestion.

If you would like to submit a policy to be shared with other Adopters, click here.

At intervals Adopters are asked to vote to prioritise policy areas and policy proposals. The last round of voting took place in October 2008. The results are summarised below. Click here to download a report on the voting as a pdf. Click on the video player below for a short clip presenting the results.

The principal place to find further information on policy suggestions and to discuss them is the Simpol-UK Policy Forum.

You can promote policies you favour through your local SP Adopters' Group and on the SP policies discussion group (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/simpolicies-general/). To submit a suggestion, you will need the backing of 10 Adopters. Discussing your ideas in local groups and on the discussion group is a way to develop the proposal and build support.

For further details on the policy development process, see the campaign pack or the summary below.

Voting in October 2008 identified the following issues to be the top 10 priorities of Adopters. This ranking is to guide the Policy Committee as it decides what issues to highlight in the It's Simpol ! newsletter and in public meetings.

*Adopters were asked to select what they saw as the top 3 issues (they could propose issues not on this list, but none were suggested by enough people to make the top 10).
The weighted vote = 3 * number making this top issue + 2 * no. making this second placed issue + 1 * no. making this third place issue

Policy suggestions
From SP Adopters and SP Adopters' Groups
Suggestions are listed in order of popularity from the October 2008 voting. Adopters rated each suggestion A, B, C or D.

Newer suggestions are inserted at the point where those supporting a suggestion falls below 50%, with the most recent coming first.

The following policy suggestions received less than 50% acceptance and so, if not re-submitted in revised form, will be included in the next round of voting on a simple keep/reject vote. Policy supporters will be encouraged to expand on and develop the proposals if they wish to keep them in the process.

Other policy suggestions drop out of the process due to lack of support. They did receive some support, but at a low level:

As with other suggestions receiving less than 50% support, Adopters may re-submit them in the same or revised form. It will be necessary to have the support of 10 Adopters for policy suggestions to be put forward to other Adopters. Archived discussions on the suggestions can be found in the policy forum.

Suggested policies that could be implemented unilaterally
The following suggestions are outside that scope of the Simultaneous Policy as they could be implemented by a government acting unilaterally. However, Adopters have asked them to be considered for inclusion in SP. Adopters may comment on, support or oppose the suggestions in the same way as any other.

Further details of the policy development process

Also see the campaign pack and the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page on the ISPO site. The following is extracted from the campaign pack sheet on 'Developing the Simultaneous Policy'.

Given that SP’s policy content remains as yet undefined, what policies are under consideration?

Firstly, there are many measures which fall outside the scope of SP. These are measures which, if implemented unilaterally by a single nation or a group of nations, would generally be likely to have a POSITIVE or neutral impact on that nation's competitiveness. These are clearly policies which CAN be implemented unilaterally and they would therefore NOT form part of SP in any case. So governments contemplating such policies will clearly want to implement them as soon as possible. After all, if they didn't, they'd LOSE their competitive advantage.

Secondly, there are those measures which, if implemented unilaterally by a single nation or a group of nations, would generally be likely to have a NEGATIVE impact on competitiveness, employment, capital markets, etc. To avoid that impact, these measures can ONLY be implemented by all (or virtually all) nations simultaneously and would consequently be included in SP. The distinction between these two types of measures provides a focus for both governments and campaigners alike, whilst helping to mobilise public support both for SP and for unilaterally implementable policies.

Local SP Adopters' Groups

Local SP Adopters' Groups in any part of the world can propose policies for inclusion in the policy package (see sheet Holding a policy forum). Policy proposals will be offered to the rest of the network for discussion and development. Particular groups champion particular ideas and reconsider and adapt their proposals in the light of feedback from other groups. Groups can also take on proposals from other local groups, or even outside organisations, and develop and adapt them further. Through sharing of ideas and reacting to the criticism of groups elsewhere in the country and in other parts of the world, each group will have to consider the impact of the way of life of its members on others in a way that currently does not occur. The interrelatedness of our living conditions in a globalised world will become increasingly evident. The fact that we are all trapped by a system that is designed for and controlled by economic interests rather than working in humanity's interests will increase the desire for a restructuring of how we manage the relationships between nations, increasing the desire to move towards an overarching system of internationally cooperative regulations within which healthy competition can flourish.

Adopters can join the Simpol discussion list to explore proposals with other Adopters.

Policy Committees

To try to harness the energy and innovation of different groups, National Policy Committees, organised by the NSPO and elected by Adopters in the country, oversee the policy formation process in theircountry. A Global Policy Board, appointed by the NSPO members of the International Simultaneous Policy Organisation, oversees the work of the national boards.

The role of a National Policy Committee is twofold.

Firstly, it is to monitor the policy ideas being developed by local groups to identify themes. On each theme there will be common and conflicting proposals. Bringing these together and communicating them back to local groups will aid debate. This monitoring will also identify possible commonality and conflicts across themes. For example, proposals for a tax on emissions of greenhouse gases could be linked to proposals to revise import tariff systems to encourage local processing and use of resources.

Secondly, the Global Policy Board and National Policy Committees have the task of feeding expert analysis into the policy development process. A great deal of work has already been done by campaigning and advocacy organisations in analysing global problems and proposing solutions. SP does not intend to “reinvent the wheel”.

So there is a process of bottom-up and topdown sharing of ideas. In addition, there is international sharing of ideas at all levels as well as a means for making use of outside expertise. Local groups can twin with groups in other countries to bounce their proposals off each other. The Global Policy Board facilitates the same process with the National Policy Committees as well as acting as a broker between them.

Building consensus

Themes to be addressed by SP are already emerging. In the shorter term consensus on the themes within each nation will be achieved through the National Policy Committee representing the views of SP Adopters fed through their local groups. This will make it easier to communicate what SP aims to achieve to those not already involved in the campaign, so boosting involvement. The practical mechanisms for ensuring this is achieved in a democratic and transparent way are being developed and adapted as the campaign proceeds.

In the longer term, proposals on the different themes will emerge and will ultimately be discussed at the international level through international meetings of the National Policy Committees. But since policies will inevitably affect different nations in different ways, it will be the role of the Global Policy Board to broker an agreement amongst the National Policy Boards on any national exceptions or compensatory arrangements that may be needed, and to achieve a consensus around these. Unlike inter-governmental meetings, these conferences will be open and transparent. The only representatives will be those of SP Adopters. There will be no lobbying by vested interests and back-room deals.

It was stated at the outset that one of the reasons why the SP policy package cannot be defined is that far more people need to become involved in the policy formation process. This raises the question of how the views of those who have not Adopted SP may be considered? It should be stressed that anyone can become an SP Adopter and there is no charge for doing so. We believe it’s everyone’s democratic right. It is inevitable, however, that many will not become Adopters or might opt not to be involved in policy formation. This is why the Founding Declarations of NSPOs and ISPO call for the general national approval of the citizens of all nations concerned before implementation can be triggered. In other words, the general assent of people everywhere by some form of global referendum would be required before implementation could proceed.

Implementation is to occur when all, or sufficient, governments have pledged to do so. What is meant by 'sufficient' may be different for different aspects of the policy package. SP works as a consensus-building strategy; a way of removing key objections and thus getting people, organisations and governments to say " yes" to policies addressing global problems instead of "no".

Governments with a pledge to implement SP may feel they have been forced into that position through the SP campaign strategy, but as the number of pledging governments grows and implementation is increasingly seen as a coming reality, some governments will actively embrace and develop the SP strategy. These governments will be able to lay the foundations for implementation, particularly once the SP package has been approved by citizens around the world.

Implementation will take place in phases, not just because of the different numbers of pledging nations needed for different policies, but because some SP policies will need to take effect to set the conditions for others. For example, systems may have to be put in place to regulate transnational corporations at the international level, perhaps by making them answerable to the International Court of Justice, before Fair Trade criteria are made a legal requirement. Or the International Monetary Fund may need to be replaced by an International Clearing Union to stabilise currencies against each other before more fundamental monetary reform measures are introduced to stop strong economies 'buying' the wealth of the world by building up massive deficits.

SP is no excuse for inaction

SP is clearly a long-term strategy. It exists in parallel with more conventional campaigning aimed at shorter-term reform of existing global rules within the confines of the existing competition paradigm. SP's policy fora, discussion papers and books raise awareness of the global problems to be addressed, helping to bring attention to other shorter-term campaigns while also providing the space for we, the people, to discuss how we want the world to be under the cooperative paradigm that SP will put in place.

Governments may attempt to use support for SP as an excuse for inaction, making the point that their freedom of action is limited because of competition for investment and jobs. This validation of SP's analysis will help to strengthen the campaign. However, unwillingness by a government to do what it can in the shorter term will count against it in future elections if two or more candidates or parties are supporting SP. Given a choice, Adopters will want to know what those seeking our votes have already done both to address the global problems which concern us and to bring implementation of SP closer.

See the sheet Developing the Simultaneous Policy in the campaign pack for further information.

Issue	Weighted vote 2008	Rank in 2007	Rank in 2006
1. Climate change	269	1	1
2. The power of transnational corporations	191	3	5
3. Environment	182	2	3
4. International financial markets and other financial issues	122	7	7
5. Governance (global and national)	118	9	8
6. The system of international trade	117	5	4
7. Human Rights	109	6	9
8. Understanding between peoples	72	10	10
9. Disarmament	61	8	6
10. Conflict resolution	56	4	2

	A - indicates you like this suggestion and it should be developed further.
	B - indicates you think this issue is important, but the approach is wrong.
	C - indicates you think this suggestion is not suitable for inclusion in SP.
	D - indicates you need further information to understand the suggestion better
	D - before you can give your view.