Creating space for change

What prevents governments from solving global problems?
It’s a common belief that politicians and governments have the power to solve many of today’s mounting global problems; problems like global warming, poverty, diminishing natural resources and so on. Solutions to these problems certainly exist in the form of taxes, regulations and a switch to new environmentally friendly technologies. All that is lacking, it is always said, is the political will to implement them.

So why don’t politicians and governments implement them?
The real difficulty is that these solutions would inevitably cost businesses more. Higher taxes or regulations on businesses would make them less profitable. So, no government dares implement these solutions alone because they fear that corporations and investors would simply move or sub-contract their operations to some other country where taxes and regulations are less severe, and where costs are lower. Countries that try to solve global problems would suffer a loss of inward investment and jobs. In short, implementing solutions to global problems would cause an individual nation to lose out against competitor nations. And every nation participates in the global economy so they all suffer from the same fear.

“The blunt truth about the politics of climate change is that no country will want to sacrifice its economy in order to meet this challenge.” [UK Ex-Prime Minister, Tony Blair. The Guardian, 3.11.05].

What’s worse, to solve mounting unemployment problems, nations often weaken social and environmental protection regulations and planning laws to make doing business in their country more attractive to global investors and corporations. The idea is that this will bring more investment and jobs – and for a while it does! Until competitor nations do the same thing.

That is why nothing changes except that our problems only get worse. It’s a vicious circle in which all nations are caught; a dangerous game which no nation can ultimately win. As global environmental, social and economic problems are left to worsen, all of us must eventually lose.

“There is a collective action problem internationally.” [ Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, David Miliband MP. The Financial Times, 6.12.06].

So, are corporate executives or global investors to blame?
If politicians have become the victims of the vicious circle caused by the free movement of capital and corporations, surely this must be the fault of investors or corporate executives? But this is not so. Because corporate executives and investment managers are forced to seek out the most profitable investments and opportunities and this often means sacrificing social and environmental interests in order to maximize profitable returns. With the shares of major corporations quoted on global stock markets, any corporate executive who fails to maximize profits will lose out to less scrupulous competitors. As the executives themselves say, “if we don’t do it, our competitors will”. The same goes for global investors who are rated by the returns they obtain for their clients. So investors and corporate executives are generally no less aware of global problems than the rest of society. But they, like our politicians, are trapped in the same vicious circle of destructive competition and they have no way out.

That’s not to say, of course, that some corporations or CEOs don’t frequently behave in ways that are shocking and abhorrent, or that we should become apologists for poor corporate behavior. But in truth, it is the framework of destructive competition which needs to change so business executives are no longer are forced to make socially and environmentally detrimental decisions.

Seen in this way, global warming, excessive corporate power, the growing energy crisis and our many other global problems are not the real issue. Because the underlying problem that prevents solutions to all of them is the same: it is that nations are caught in a vicious circle of destructive competition from which they cannot escape. Global warming, poverty, energy insecurity and so on are not the problem. The problem is a lack of international cooperation!

Why do I feel so powerless in this situation and why has my vote become meaningless?
The destructive competition between nations caused by the global free movement of capital and corporations is also why simply changing the party in government makes little or no difference. Because any party that comes to govern has no choice but to maintain its nation’s international competitiveness and its attractiveness to global investors and corporations in a bid to maintain or improve levels of employment. Even Green parties, when they come to power, are forced to discard or severely dilute their policies to avoid capital, jobs and investment disappearing to other countries. Looking to politicians and governments alone to solve our problems has thus become substantially futile. The fear of capital and corporations moving elsewhere has created a situation which forces all of them to adopt policies which are market and business-friendly. That is why all political parties once they come to govern end up implementing much the same policies, or if they do move in the right direction, it is no way near enough. It’s also why increasing numbers of citizens realize that their votes no longer make much difference and that is why so many of us no longer bother to vote in national elections. To solve global problems citizens around the world need to drive politicians and governments from destructive international competition to fruitful global cooperation. Simpol is one way – perhaps the only way – we citizens can make that happen.

But just when you thought your vote had become meaningless, the Simpol offers citizens around the world a way to make their votes more powerful than they ever thought possible.