An event-handling system identifies multiple policies to be combined together in a merged policy set. The system determines whether any conflicts exist between the multiple policies. Any non-conflicting policies are included in the merged policy set. The system resolves conflicting policies by selecting a preferred policy and including the preferred policy in the merged policy set. The preferred policy is selected by arranging conflicting policy templates in order from global policies to local policies and determining the intersection of the conflicting policy templates. The preferred policy template is selected based on the policy template closest to the local policies and within the intersection of the conflicting policy templates.