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International Policy Network

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the neoliberal think tank International Policy Network. For the international centre-left think tank, see Policy Network.
International Policy Network
AbbreviationIPN
Formation1971
FounderSir Antony Fisher
Dissolved2011
TypeNon-partisan, non-profit think tank (UK charity)
Legal statusDefunct
Location
  • London
SubsidiariesThe Freedom to Trade Campaign
Formerly called
The International Institute for Economic Research
The Atlas Economic Research Foundation (UK)

The International Policy Network (IPN) was a neoliberal think tank based in the City of London, founded 1971, and closed in September 2011. The think tank said it was a non-partisan, non-profit organization, although critics argued that it was a "corporate-funded campaigning group".[1] IPN ran campaigns on issues such as trade, development, healthcare and the environment. IPN's campaigns were pro-free market and in line with neoliberal policies, and also expressed climate change sceptic views.[2]

Vision

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According to its website, "IPN aims to empower individuals and promote respect for people and property in order to eliminate poverty, improve human health and protect the environment. IPN promotes public awareness of the importance of this vision for all people, both rich and poor. IPN seeks to achieve its vision by promoting the role of market institutions in certain key international policy debates: sustainable development, health, and globalisation and trade. IPN works with academics, think tanks, journalists and policymakers on every continent."

History

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IPN was founded as a UK charity by Sir Antony Fisher in 1971. The mission of this body is to "Promote the advancement of learning by research into economic and political science and the publication of such research". The charity's original name was The International Institute for Economic Research, and now is The Atlas Economic Research Foundation (UK), but operates under the name International Policy Network. IPN's sister organization, International Policy Network US Inc., is a non-profit started in 2001.

Funding

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IPN is funded entirely by voluntary, charitable gifts from foundations, individuals and businesses. IPN does not receive any funding from governments or political parties, and it does no contract work. IPN develops and implements a research and advocacy agenda that encompasses not one or a few, but many public policy issues. IPN has received grants totaling hundreds of thousands of pounds from the multinational energy company ExxonMobil,[3] although it has not received money from the energy sector for some years.[citation needed]

Programs

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IPN undertakes ongoing work on public policy in the areas of health, environment, economic development, trade, creativity and innovation. The Freedom to Trade Campaignis run in collaboration with the Atlas Global Initiative. The campaign joins 73 think tanks in 48 countries to support free trade and oppose protectionism.[4] IPN's Bastiat Prize for Journalism was founded in 2002. The prize recognises and rewards journalists and commentators who support the free society.[5] In 2009, IPN awarded the first Bastiat Prize for Online Journalism.

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IPN was founded by Antony Fisher in the UK as the International Institute for Economic Research (IIER) in 1971. Fisher went on to set up a think tank creating other think tanks to promote neoliberalism,[6] and founded the Atlas Economic Research Foundation in the US in 1981,[7][8][9] and from this point the IIER traded as Atlas Foundation UK. This organisation underwent a further rebranding in 2001, when it changed its name to IPN. In the US, the Atlas Foundation also provides training and funding to start libertarian think tanks. Fisher founded the influential Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), a neoliberal think tank based in London. The founding director of IPN, Julian Morris, was previously director of the IEA's Environment and Technology Programme.

People

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Past notable trustees/directors

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Past notable staff

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Some of IPN's partners

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References

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  1. ^ Monbiot, George (27 September 2006). "Smoke in our eyes". The Guardian. London.
  2. ^ "Climate change sceptic think tank shuts down". The Independent. 24 May 2012. Retrieved 16 January 2014.
  3. ^ Owen, Jonathan; Paul Bignell (7 February 2010). "Think-Tanks Take Oil Money and Use it to Fund Climate Deniers". The Independent.
    – Monbiot, George (September 27, 2006). "How corporations have hijacked the climate change debate". The Age. Melbourne. Retrieved 4 October 2009.
  4. ^ "Neue Domain bei der webgo GmbH". Freedom to Trade.
  5. ^ "IPN: Bastiat Prize 2008". International Policy Network. Archived from the original on 2008-08-28. Retrieved 2009-06-25.
  6. ^ Innset, Ola (2020). Reinventing Liberalism: The Politics, Philosophy and Economics of Early Neoliberalism (1920–1947). Berlin: Springer Nature. p. 187. ISBN 978-3-030-38885-0 – via Google Books.
  7. ^ Mitchell, Timothy (2005). "The Work of Economics: How a Discipline Makes Its World". European Journal of Sociology. 46 (2): 299–310. doi:10.1017/S000397560500010X. JSTOR 23999581. S2CID 146456853. By that time [1979] what had begun as a fringe right-wing current had become the most powerful political orthodoxy. The neoliberal movement was now trying to extend its network to other parts of the world. In 1981, a close collaborator of Hayek, Anthony Fisher, established the Atlas Foundation for Economic Research. Its goal was to coordinate activities and corporate funding among the network of European and American think tanks, and to extend it by developing and financing a group of neoliberal organizations in Western Europe and the United States.
  8. ^ Salles-Djelic, Marie-Laure (2017). "Building an Architecture for Political Influence: Atlas and the Transnational Institutionalization of the Neoliberal Think Tank". Power, Policy and Profit. Chelthenham: Edward Elgar Publishing. pp. 25–44. ISBN 978-1-78471-120-7. Retrieved 31 December 2024.
  9. ^ Geoghegan, Peter (29 May 2024). "The Invisible Doctrine by George Monbiot and Peter Hutchison review – neoliberalism's ascent". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved January 1, 2025.
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