Michael Schluter (economist)

Schluter’s approach to public policy was first articulated at book length in The R Factor (1993), co-authored with Princeton Professor David Lee.[5]

Schluter's central argument holds that social, economic and political problems in society arise from a lack of prioritization of relationships – not only personal relationships, but organisational, national and international relationships. Legislative, governmental and corporate policies and organisational structures impact on the manner in which people relate to one another, but this influence is often neglected in the formation of public policy.

Improvement in the quality of these relationships could lead to "relational restoration" according to Schluter, potentially enhancing global quality of life. This overall approach has been described as a critique of both Capitalism and Socialism, and seeks to provide an alternative framework for public policy. Its followers are sometimes called ‘Relationists’ and, the idea is commonly referred to as Relational Thinking within the field of public policy.

The R Factor was received by many people as a call to action. Even though Schluter has co-authored other books and reports since then (e.g. The Jubilee Manifesto, The Relational Manager, Transforming Capitalism from Within, The Relational Lens, and Confederal Europe), few publications by any author in the last few decades have had their range of impact on individuals, on families, on organisations, and structures.

Schluter has founded two organizations that research relationships, Relationships Foundation and Relational Research. A number of practical and more specific initiatives based on the relational approach have developed out of his work. These include Credit Action to help tackle the effects of consumer debt, which subsequently became part of the Money Charity; Allia, which tackles unemployment and funding social enterprise by encouraging the use of capital to achieve social outcomes; and Relational Schools, which seeks to reform the culture and values in schools. Another initiative that has grown out of this approach has been the Marriage Foundation, which promotes long-term committed relationships through the institution of marriage.  

The R Factor sets out the five essential dimensions of every relationship (personal, organisational or international). Those dimensions are collectively referred to as the Relational Proximity Framework. Schluter recognised that measurement of quality of relationships was crucial if relational assessment was to be used in public decision making. In an organisational context, any relationship measurement must be two-sided, because, to state the obvious, no relationship is one-sided. The measurement process and tools are referred to as “relational analytics”. Given the tens of thousands of measurements already carried out across schools, companies, the health sector, prisons, elderly care, and the non-profit sector, it has been possible to have the relational analytics tools statistically validated.

In 1987 Schluter with colleagues initiated a peace process under the name Newick Park Initiative[6][7] (NPI) in South Africa, which held deliberately low-profile conferences between 1987 and 1997, bringing together the leaders of the African National Congress (ANC) and the White political leadership to discuss key issues so as to ease the path to a political settlement.[8] NPI’s director facilitated Inkatha joining the South African election just three weeks before the first free elections in 1994.

The work in South Africa led on to a peace initiative in Rwanda after the genocide there,[9] followed by a peace process between North and South Sudan.[10] These initiatives were followed by the establishment in 2005 of Concordis International, for regional peace initiatives working primarily in Africa.  In 2016, Schluter helped to establish Relational Peacebuilding Initiatives (RPI) based in Geneva to heal relationships in situations of national conflict; RPI is currently involved with a peacebuilding initiative in the Korean Peninsula,[11] and is publishing in 2022 a major book on how to bring together a Capitalist and Socialist society to bring about peace in Korea and reunification of the Korean peninsula.[12]

In 1983 Schluter helped to establish the Jubilee Centre[13] to explore the shared heritage of Jewish and Christian understanding of the Torah as a part of the Hebrew/Old Testament Scriptures. Ten years later, this led to the publication of The 'R' Factor in 1993. The intellectual work initiated by The ‘R’ Factor continues in research undertaken by the Jubilee Centre, and through the Cambridge Papers, over 120 of which have now been published.[14] The Jubilee Centre connects what is now referred to as Relational Thinking to the life of churches; it can also be connected to synagogues, mosques, gurudwaras and temples, but that awaits initiative from concerned individuals and groups.  

In 1985, the Jubilee Centre brought together a coalition of retailers, trade unions and church-related organizations to fight Prime Minister Thatcher’s bill to deregulate Sunday trading. This was in recognition that the Sabbath in the Torah in one simple law protected community and family relationships because time is an essential precondition to build and maintain any relationship. The Keep Sunday Special campaign overturned a large government majority.[15] In 1994, the government passed a bill which allows large shops to open for six hours on Sunday while small shops can open when they like; this remains the law to this day.[16] Schluter has continued to speak out against Sunday Trading,[17] arguing that a new law needs to be brought in to give everyone a shared day off [18] and to ensure parents can spend time with their children.[19] Dr. Schluter argued that Sunday shopping in the United States was ''a fairly major contributing factor damaging to family life and stability there,'' and said he was fighting the battle against it here ''on grounds of Christian principle.''[20]

• The “R” Factor (Hodder & Stoughton, 1993)
• The Jubilee Manifesto (IVP, 2005)
• The Relational Manager (Lion Hudson, 2009)
• Transforming Capitalism from Within (2011)
• After Capitalism (2013)
• The Relational Lens (CUP, 2017)
• Confederal Europe Parts 1 and 2 (Sallux and Jubilee Centre, 2018 and 2019)
• Relational Rights (Relational Research, 2021)
• Is Corporate Capitalism the best we've got to offer? (Relational Research, 2022)
• No Other Way to Peace in Korea? A practical path to reunification (Relational Peacebuilding Initiatives, 2022)

• Jubilee Centre
• Relationships Foundation
• Relational Peacebuilding Initiatives
• Relational Research
• The Relationist
• Relational Analytics