Code of Conduct

1. Status of the Code

1.1 The Members Code of Conduct is an organisational document that is binding on all members of the Rethinking Economics International (REI).

1.2 A breach of this Code of Conduct in REI organised or supported spaces constitutes grounds for disciplinary action. When considering disciplinary action, it is the Escalation, Complaints and Disciplinary document that will determine what, if any, action is taken.

2 Scope

2.1 The purpose of this document is to provide a clear set of standards that must not be breached, to guide Members and Solidarity Members in how they are expected to conduct themselves. The definition and requirements of membership and solidarity membership is set out in the Standing Orders.

2.2 It also applies to all activities carried out for or on behalf of REI, for which Members and Solidarity Members are responsible, including informal social activities and any other forms of interaction at which REI members are present (in person or online).

2.3 Members and Solidarity Members are expected to display the same high standards of conduct in their interactions with staff. REI has in addition a set of policies specifically for paid staff and how to deal with matters arising within employment situations.

2.4 This Code of Conduct stands alongside and complements other organisational documentation.

3 Oversight

This document is to be kept under review by: the International Members Council (IMC) and can be changed as per the Standing Orders, with regards to motions, referenda and preferenda.

4 Mechanism for updating, revising & appending documents to the Code

4.1 Updating – The REI Staff Team may make simple updating corrections to this Code as to numbering, terminology, names of groups, procedures or documents as they change and should do so promptly so as to keep this document relevant, up to date and fit for purpose.

4.2 Revision – The REI Staff Team may propose revisions to this document on which it must seek approval from the IMC to implement.

4.3 Appending documents – From time to time a body with the competent authority to do so may produce an organisational document and propose that it be appended to this Code of Conduct.

4.4 No appended document may nullify or be in conflict with any clause in this Code, the Constitution or the Standing Orders. A document proposed to be appended to this Code  may not be in conflict with or nullify a document that is already appended to it.

5 Rethinking Economics Values

The REI’s approach to ethical conduct is guided by its Values and Approach to Leadership as quoted below:

“Role of the Rethinker – Rethinkers (our members, solidarity members and supporters) should work towards reshaping the role of an economist as a servant to society, community and social movements. To do this, every member and solidarity member of REI needs to abide by its values.

Care – Without a caring society, there would be no economy, culture, or politics. Care is vital for raising children, protecting vulnerable individuals, and assisting the elderly but is also crucial for the creation and maintenance of personal and social connections. Without care, social infrastructures would fail and institutions would struggle to function. It sustains the connections between friends, family, and communities, ensuring people are healthy, educated, and housed. 

At Rethinking Economics we want a collectively caring approach that is rooted in international solidarity. We should always be asking what are the needs of our group, how can they be met and how can we organise ourselves to collectively care for our members globally. Importantly, we should also be attuned to who is not present in our spaces or who isn’t given space to speak or act. This requires us to be educated in the struggles of people and movements around the world and how the global economic system is contributing to that oppression. 

Every group, unit or organisation within the network should seek to listen to its members and support them with the resources, compassion and boundaries they need to take an active role in Rethinking Economics. Part of listening is tolerating differences in others and trying to understand each other as complex and contradictory individuals, being comfortable with what you don’t know. This is also key to ensuring care is provided to everyone, enabling groups to maintain a diverse membership. 

Curiosity –  Rethinkers need to be committed to a militant enquiry of all available information and theories. We need to be comfortable reading and discussing economics that we disagree with while being steadfast in our commitment to an economics that serves everyone and in particular the most marginalised people in society. We should be seeking out ideas and people not just in our locality but internationally and raising, translating and distributing the ideas and papers from the global majority to the wider network.

We aim to be a learning organisation, so we need to focus on how we create, store, and share knowledge. We need structured opportunities to make this happen. In most organisations the majority of knowledge is tacit – held with people and not recorded or shared in a way that others can find or benefit from if people are not present. We need to focus on creating recorded knowledge and a knowledge base, a structure in which to record and share knowledge and information. 

To move from a knowledge base to a learning environment requires psychological safety, appreciation of differences, openness to new ideas and time for reflection. Leadership based on care, courage and boundaries is critical to nurturing curiosity and learning. All organisations in the network need to be comfortable with collecting quantitative data on their members, impact and environment, while also listening to their internal compasses and emotional dynamics of their community about what is working and what isn’t.

Courage – To challenge authority and institutions effectively, we must build collective power. This means exposing the gap between what institutions claim to do and what they actually do—and holding them accountable for their actions, not just their words. Change doesn’t come easily, and those in power will resist it. When they do, we must respond with determination, not frustration.

Standing up for our campaign can be uncomfortable and put pressure on the groups we work within. This is why Rethinking Economics is not just about individual courage—it’s about creating strong, connected groups and networks that make change possible together. This starts with honest communication: sharing the challenges we face, asking for the support we need, and following through on commitments.

Showing up with a collective mindset is essential—challenging those who take on too much, identifying where additional capacity is needed, passing the mic, and prioritising what truly matters. Be kind, not just nice—say and do what is necessary, rather than what you think others want to hear. Finally, REI should support Rethinkers to become excellent communicators as this will build the courage in our membership to speak up to power and inspire action. 

What Leadership Looks like for Rethinkers – Marshall Ganz describes leadership as “accepting responsibility to create conditions that enable others to achieve shared purpose in the face of uncertainty. Leaders accept responsibility not only for their individual ‘part’ of the work, but also for the collective ‘whole.’ Crucially, leadership does not mean executive power or authoritarian rule! It means caring about the big picture rather than controlling it.”  There is an implicit hierarchy, particularly during the process of developing leadership, but REI aims to create structures that decentralise power into many different spaces so as to encourage leadership across the network and create many opportunities for task, action and group leadership. 

Furthermore, leadership is about identifying resistance in yourself, in the group or in the material conditions that limit collective liberation. The task of leadership is to reflect on this resistance and challenge yourself and others to act upon it. The organisation’s role in this is to create the conditions that enable leaders to emerge in the group, and encourage others around them in order to build power to affect change. This requires structures that support people to grow and overcome the various challenges they will face, while staying true to REI’s values as the guiding principles for decision making. Establishing a healthy leadership ecosystem requires democratic decision making and central coordination to ensure that the group adheres to the collective decisions made. By engaging in democratic decision-making, we can embrace our differences and avoid seeking conformity or homogeneity, instead striving for unity. 

Leaders in positions of power (positional leaders) should take ownership of their authority while engaging in collective learning and facilitate the process by sharing their knowledge. They should act as facilitators or educators while retaining accountable decision-making power. We should not disregard authority, hierarchy, or leadership, but rather strive to decrease unnecessary hierarchy and establish structures that enable everyone to take on roles. This necessitates introspection and creating spaces that are mindful of power, privilege, and anti-oppression. 

Consequently, as Rethinkers our role is to be inward looking when it comes to our organisational values of curiosity, care and courage knowing when to think, feel and act. We live in a context where both socio-cultural antagonisms are as deep as economic exploitation. We should not be bogged down by the empty claims of freedom and be acutely aware of the socio-economic processes of advanced capitalist integration. We need to do the actual hard work of reason – to analyse our unequal contexts and our histories, while working towards collective emancipation. 

Finally, in the words of Antonio Gramsci, as leaders we must aim to “never fall into those vulgar, banal moods, pessimism and optimism…. Whatever the situation, imagine the worst that could happen in order to summon up all [your] reserves and will power to overcome every obstacle.” Complexity, contradiction and nuance are part of every person, group and system. We need to approach every situation with a calm and curious mind, not reaching for despair in the face of complexity or jubilation when we assume we have the answer. “

6 Rethinking Economics Organising Principles

Our principles reflect how we believe we should conduct our work to ensure that our efforts, and those of others, translate into the changes we want to see. 

The Work of an Organiser [Rethinker] – In organising, we’re consciously, every single day, doing what we call “base expansion.” We’re expanding the universe of people from whom we can later come back to mobile [campaign with]. It’s an explicit plan to build the universe of people who are not yet part of your organising, who are not in your social media feed, who you don’t talk to, who might even think that they don’t like you, who might even think that they’re opposed to you— that’s the work of organisers and organising, going out to build unity, and solidarity, and expand the universe of people in our movement.  – Jane McAlevey 

• Rethinkers share power, responsibility and opportunities and, by doing this, act collectively to make real change.
• Rethinkers make their voices heard and raise the voices of others.
• Rethinkers build an open, collaborative and anti-racist environment where members feel safe to voice their opinions.
• Rethinkers empower other members to take ownership of the network and take on new responsibilities.
• Rethinkers take ownership of their actions, hold each other accountable for things they do and things they don’t do.
• Rethinkers channel their passion into campaigns and organising
• Rethinkers build power through increasing the number of members who support our goals.
• Rethinkers consider the actions of decision-makers, not the words they use.
• Rethinkers treat everyone in their community as potential allies, and are kind to those who make mistakes.
• Rethinkers treat those who defend the status quo and oppose change with  a determination to change these views, not a frustration that those views are held.
• Rethinkers evaluate after every action, event or campaign to build on what works.
• Rethinkers spend most of their time talking with the people who are not talking to us.
• Everything rethinkers do contributes towards our goals.
• Rethinkers use clear, inclusive and accessible language in their campaigns
• Rethinkers are active listeners, welcome conflicting and diverse ideas and engage with them in open and honest debate. 
• Rethinkers celebrate their successes and learn from their failures.
• Rethinkers make decisions by consent, ensuring everyone has a chance to voice their opinion.

The following clauses each contain standards that must not be breached.

7 Organisational guidance & procedures and legal responsibilities

7.1 Members have a general duty to care for one another and remain curious and courageous when holding each other accountable and to high standards.

7.2 Members should take care to not bring the REI into disrepute by engaging in unethical conduct when representing the organisation.

7.3 Membership of REI does not affect the statutory rights or obligations of members. No Member may attempt to persuade another Member to forego or breach a statutory right or obligations.

8 Courage | Debate and Freedom of Expression

8.1 Members’ right to freedom of thought, conscience and belief should be respected. Members should be active listeners, welcome conflicting and diverse ideas and engage with them in open and honest debate.

8.2 Members are entitled to disagree and anger around issues should be an accepted reaction to injustice. However, members should not use criticism to hurt, humiliate or belittle, undermine or otherwise attack someone. ‘Attack the argument, not the person’ is an approach that should be followed in debating situations.

8.3 Members who dissent from a decision or an official policy must ensure they make it clear that they are expressing disagreement as an individual and not as a representative of REI or any part of it, unless they have been authorised from a group or body of REI to do so.

8.4 Unless an authorised communication is being made on behalf of REI, members should make it clear their views are their own and not necessarily those of REI. 

9 Care | Respect & Tolerance

9.1 REI should be an organisation in which people can feel comfortable, feel welcome and enjoy being a member and taking part in its activities. Members’ behaviour towards each other and non-members should therefore be: tolerant, considerate, respectful and civil.

9.2 Discriminatory, oppressive or abusive behaviour should be prevented and stopped when it occurs. The aim is to provide an environment free of this. Any form of such behaviour is a breach of this Code, as is failure by a person in a role with responsibility to take appropriate action to prevent or stop it. Members should also be aware of risks and act to mitigate them.

9.3 Members should, in all their interactions with others, assume the best of them, unless clear and repetitive evidence suggests otherwise.

9.4 Members should not: make belittling, derogatory or disparaging remarks about another member.

10 Care | Inclusion

10.1 Members should be inviting and inclusive to ensure members feel confident to join in and get involved.

10.2 Members should ensure that all members are encouraged to contribute to discussion and decision-making at meetings and that everyone is listened to properly, without being interrupted unnecessarily. Decisions should be made by consent or consensus wherever possible. However, voting is permitted where this isn’t possible.

10.3 Members should aim to work collaboratively with all other members.

10.4 Members should help other members develop skills to fully participate in democratic processes and activities.

10.5 Members should support the proliferation of initiatives to support Global South, non-English language, or any other caucus aimed at addressing power imbalances in the network.

10.6 Members should be aware when contacting other members that they may have jobs, family or other constraints on their time and be patient in expecting a response. 

10.7 Members should be afforded adequate and timely access to information about planned meetings or activities that they could take part in or observe; and equal access to information or papers being used during a meeting or activity they are taking part in, including minutes, that would enable them to participate on an equal basis with other members present. This requirement does not apply where a legitimate disciplinary sanction has removed these rights from a member.

11 Care and Curiosity | Diversity

11.1 With a huge diversity in opinion, background, experience, class, race, culture and other identities, members should make an effort to understand and remain curious to the context that fellow members are speaking from and engage with debates on the points they make, rather than their personal qualities.

11.2 Members should welcome diversity and strive to accommodate the different needs of members wherever possible. Welcoming diversity encompasses respect towards and active consideration of people’s individual differences as well as their diverse cultural backgrounds.

11.3 Members responsible must actively take steps to ensure events and activities are as accessible, inclusive and welcoming as is reasonably possible to both members and the public, as appropriate, taking into account both anticipatable and known general and individual needs.

11.4 Members must not behave in a discriminatory manner towards someone on the basis of any protected characteristic that person may have.

11.5 REI welcomes people from a wide range of backgrounds, members may encounter people who hold differing political or philosophical worldviews. Members should show tolerance and respect towards people that hold political or philosophical worldviews that differ from their own.

12 Procedure and authority

12.1 Members who take on an elected position or a Trustee role must do what is needed to meet the legal obligations of the Charity and to that end keep adequate records of their decisions and communications. Failure to provide records of decisions and other information to members is unacceptable conduct. 

12.2 Decisions should be recorded and kept for future reference and should either be adhered to and implemented or changed democratically and the change recorded. It is not acceptable conduct for a member to ignore or to seek to abuse or subvert due procedure.

12.3 Members should respect the constraints of confidentiality when it is agreed by all parties to the matter under consideration.

12.4 Members must check with the relevant budget holder before committing REI resources other than those for which they have responsibility.

12.5 Procedures agreed by members must be fair and transparent, in line with requirements set out in the Constitution and Standing Orders.

12.6 Members should be supported and feel empowered to follow procedures and make complaints where necessary.

12.7 Making a clearly vexatious or malicious complaint; using a complaint as part of a pattern of harassment; clearly abusing the complaint system to attack a personal enemy or political opponent or another person within REI are all forms of unacceptable behaviour.

13 Conflict of interest

13.1 All written or online communication sent ‘on behalf of REI’ must not be for personal gain or in conflict with Rethinking Economics Values. 

13.2 Members have a duty to consider recusing themselves from a decision in which they have an interest and must also declare that interest.

The following is a set of guidelines, drawn from ‘A)’ and ‘B)’ to guide how moderators of forum and instant message chats can support members to abide by the Values, Principles and Standards without resorting to escalation. These are guidelines to be interpreted, not rules to be followed.

The following can be posted somewhere accessible to all:

• Give time for others to respond. Be careful not to take too much space in a discussion, people will become disengaged!
• Be inclusive in your language – don’t use complex theoretical language to explain your point, this won’t be accessible to everyone. If it’s absolutely necessary, take the time to explain what your jargon means.
• Leave space for silence – some people require more time to process their thoughts, this doesn’t make them any less valid. Give them time before making your point or moving on the discussion.
• Keep on topic! We want our work to be targeted and action-focussed; maybe a campaign group isn’t the time for academic debate
• Be culturally sensitive – recognise and respect the different approaches, opinions and behaviours of those from different backgrounds and regions of the world
• Hold others to account – don’t be afraid to respectfully call out inappropriate behaviour or behaviour that contravenes the Code of Conduct.
• Don’t criticise the person when you are criticising the point.
• Don’t post repeatedly about the same point in online spaces, use the threads options where available.
• Don’t threaten or harass any other person, whether physically or verbally
• Don’t discriminate against or abuse another person on the basis of their race, religion, sexuality, gender or beliefs.
• Don’t act without regard for the safety of others.
• Don’t post content from AI generated sources and pass off as your own voice.

For Moderators:

Make clear the purpose of the group or online space:

• General discussion groups are for small chats or forums, they should generally be discouraged in large instant messaging chats and those wanting a discussion to be signposted to the relevant forum/thread;
• Announcements or celebratory groups are for posting and reposting content they want to be shared. There should be limited discussion beyond the occasional question;
• Task specific groups should have a clear focus and moderation should seek to intervene when discussion veers consistently from this purpose. 
• Moderators should demonstrate the purpose of the group by contributing in the way they believe everyone else should, by posting relevant messages, questions or discussion points. 

Escalation

• Messages should be used before any other intervention, reminding people of the Standards, guidelines or the purpose of the group;
• If a debate becomes between two people, increasingly less relevant to the group, then invite them to take the conversation outside of group discussions;
• Similarly, if two people are dominating a discussion, ask to hear from others in the group on the topic;
• If a debate veers off topic and multiple message interventions fail to have an effect, consider a cool down period where the groups messages are stopped for a period of 24 hours. This should only be used when the Moderator feels that the debate is majorly limiting the participation of others.
• If the Moderator feels that a Member in the group has seriously broken the Code of Conduct, causing others to feel discriminated against or bullied, the Moderator should close messages for the group and follow the Escalation, Complaints and Disciplinary document.

Rethinking Economics International has a zero tolerance approach to all forms of discrimination or abuse on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion (incl. Islamophobia and anti-semitism), sexuality, gender or beliefs.

Escalation policy

The Rethinking Economics network takes the welfare of its members extremely seriously. We want to ensure that our network embodies our values. If you believe someone has contravened the Code of Conduct, please get in touch at conduct@rethinkeconomics.org. All communication will be treated as strictly confidential. In the event of a concern being raised the escalation process will be followed with the permission of the complainant.

If the allegation is against a staff member, the organisation will use the disciplinary policy process to investigate.

Stage 1 | Member of the Rethinking Economics International staff team to arrange a meeting involving all parties involved. Rethinking Economics International staff team to follow-up with all parties.

If the issue persists or the complainant is not satisfied, this will move to:

Stage 2 | Member of the Rethinking Economics International staff team speaks to the offending party that the issue is regarding. During this conversation, the member of the team will refer to this code of conduct and highlight which elements have been contravened.

If the issue persists or the complainant is not satisfied, this will move to:

Stage 3 | Members of the Rethinking Economics International team issues the offending party that the issue is regarding with a warning and set of guidelines and rules to ensure that the issue does not recur.

If the issue persists or the complainant is not satisfied, this will move to:

Stage 4 | The party that the offending issue is regarding with a final warning.

If the issue persists or the complainant is not satisfied, the offending party will be removed from Rethinking Economics International communications platforms and prevented from attending Rethinking Economics International Events