Atlas Network

Atlas Network, formerly known as the Atlas Economic Research Foundation, is a non-governmental 501(c)(3) organization based in the United States that provides training, networking and grants for libertarian and free-market groups around the world.[4][5][6][7] Atlas Network partners with about 500 organizations in nearly 100 countries.[8][9]

This article is about the United States-based organization that supports think tanks. For the European police organization, see ATLAS Network. For other networks, see Atlas (disambiguation).
Atlas Network
Founder(s)Antony Fisher
Established1981 (1981)
ChairDebbi Gibbs[1]
Chief executive officerBrad Lips
BudgetRevenue: $15,545,000
Expenses: $12,963,000
(2020)[2]
Members506[3]
Formerly calledAtlas Economic Research Foundation
Location
Arlington, VA
,
United States
Websitewww.atlasnetwork.org

The 2019 and 2020 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report, published by the University of Pennsylvania, ranked the Atlas Network as 54th among the "Top Think Tanks in the United States".[10][11]

History

Atlas Network was founded in 1981 by Sir Antony Fisher, a British entrepreneur, who was influenced by economist F.A Hayek and his book, The Road to Serfdom.[12][13] After founding the Institute of Economic Affairs in London in 1955, Fisher helped establish the Fraser Institute, the Manhattan Institute and the Pacific Research Institute in the 1970s.[13] The late Linda Whetstone, Fisher's daughter and a classical liberal, served as chairman of Atlas Network.[14][15]

In 1981, Atlas Network helped economist Hernando de Soto found the Institute for Liberty and Democracy (ILD) in Peru[9] and invested in the Institut Economique de Paris (IEP) in France.[16] In 1983, Fisher helped launch the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA) in Dallas, Texas[9] and the Jon Thorlaksson Institute in Iceland.[16] That organization was replaced by the Icelandic Research Centre for Innovation and Economic Growth.[16]

Atlas Network helped establish the Hong Kong Centre for Economic Research in 1987 and the Liberty Institute in New Delhi in 1996.[9]

Margaret Thatcher, F. A. Hayek, and Milton Friedman formally endorsed the organization.[9] 

Fisher conceived of Atlas Network as a means to connect various think tanks via a global network through which the organizations could learn best practices from one another and "pass the best research and policy ideas from one to the other"[17] Atlas Network would receive funding from American and European businesses and think tanks to coordinate and organize neoliberal organizations in the developing world.[6] With few exceptions, all affiliated think tanks were established with Atlas Network funding.[18] The organization has been described as "self replicating, a think tank that creates think tanks."[19]

It is not named after Ayn Rand's novel Atlas Shrugged.[20]

Leadership

The chief executive officer of Atlas Network is Brad Lips.[21] Lips joined Atlas Network, then known as Atlas Economic Research Foundation, in 1998[9] and became CEO in 2009. He is the author of Liberalism and the Free Society in 2021.[22][23]

Matt Warner is the organization's president, while Tom G. Palmer serves as executive vice president for international programs.[24][25] Warner and Palmer co-authored the book Development with Dignity: Self-Determination, Localization, and the End of Poverty.[26][27]

Atlas Network is organized into centers by region.[28] Entrepreneur Magatte Wade is director of the Center for African Prosperity. Antonella Marty, an Argentine human-rights activist, serves as a fellow for the Center for Latin America.[29][30][31][32]

Activities

Training and networking

The Atlas Network Academy teaches individuals about management and communication through credit-based courses.[33] In 2020, Atlas Network trained nearly 4,000 people in promoting free-market voices, preparing nearly 900 people to work at global think tanks.[8][34] Philadelphia Magazine described the Atlas Network as "supporting free-market approaches to eliminating poverty and noted for its refutation of climate change and defense of the tobacco industry".[35]

Atlas Network holds four regional Liberty Forums (in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Europe) and an international conference in the United States.[24] In December 2021, Atlas held a "Liberty Forum and Freedom Dinner" in Miami, Florida, for think tank partners from around the world.[36][37] Nobel laureate Mario Vargas Llosa and North Korean activist Yeonmi Park attended the event, with Latin Grammy winner Yotuel performing for more than 800 attendees.[38][39] At the event, Carla Gloria Colome won the inaugural Catedra Vargas Llosa-Atlas Network Prize for Young Journalism for her reporting about the 2021 Cuban protests, while India's Centre for Civil Society won the Templeton Freedom Award for helping implement the country's Street Vendors Act in 2014.[40][41][42]

Atlas Network has partnered with the F.A. Hayek Foundation in Slovakia, the Association for Liberal Thinking in Turkey, the Lithuanian Free Market Institute, and Libertad y Desarrollo in Chile to establish Free Enterprise Training Centers.[24]

In 2021, Atlas Network partnered with Cuban anti-communism activist Ruhama Fernandez to share her story after Fernandez was arrested for criticizing the Cuban government.[43] The Ukraine-based Bendukidze Free Market Center is also an Atlas Network partner.[44]

Grants

Atlas Network provides limited amounts of financial support to new think tanks on a case-by-case basis. Grants are usually given for specific projects and range between $2,000 and $5,000.[45] In 2020, Atlas Network provided more than $5 million in the form of grants to support its network of around 500 partners worldwide.[46]

The organization funds Costa Rica's IDEAS Labs, which helped reform the country's pension laws in 2020.[47] Atlas also supports the Philippines-based Foundation for Economic Freedom, which works on property rights.[47]

Atlas Network’s Templeton Freedom Award, supported by Templeton Religion Trust and named after Sir John Templeton, was established in 2004.[48][49] In 2015, the Acton Institute was awarded $100,000 for its documentary film, “Poverty, Inc.”[49] In 2020, the Center for Indonesian Policy Studies won the award for their Affordable Food for the Poor Initiative.[50][51]

Awards

Atlas Network's Think Tank Shark Tank competition allows professionals to pitch their liberty-advancing projects to judges.[52] In 2018, Dhananath Fernando won the Asia Think Tank Shark championship for his research on the high cost of construction in Sri Lanka and his proposal to lower the taxes on construction materials.[53] Students for Liberty Brazil won the 2021 Latin America competition for their project on educating Brazilian favela residents about property rights.[54]

Financials

As a non-governmental 501(c)(3) organization, Atlas Network receives donations from different foundations, individuals, and corporations, but does not accept government funding.[33]

As of 2005, Atlas Network had received $440,000 from ExxonMobil,[55] and has received at least $825,000 USD from the tobacco company Philip Morris.[56] Of Atlas Network partners, 57% in the United States had received funding from the tobacco industry.[56] Atlas Network has received funding from Koch family foundations.[4] Corporate funding accounted for less than 2% of Atlas Network's total donations in 2020. Atlas Network partners have received tobacco-related funding in the past, although "fossil-fuel and tobacco interests" have provided less than 1% of Atlas’ funding over the last two decades.[8][57]

Atlas Network receives donations primarily from individuals and foundations, such as the John Templeton Foundation and the Lilly Endowment.[58]

As of 2020, Atlas Network had assets of $15,450,264.[59]

References
  1. Roberts, Ken Schwencke, Mike Tigas, Sisi Wei, Alec Glassford, Andrea Suozzo, Brandon (May 9, 2013). "Atlas Economic Research Foundation – Form Form 990 for period ending Dec 2020 – Nonprofit Explorer". ProPublica.
  2. "Annual Report 2020" (PDF). Atlas Network. Retrieved 19 August 2021.
  3. "Global Directory". Atlas Network. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
  4. Fang, Lee (August 9, 2017). "Sphere of Influence: How American Libertarians Are Remaking Latin American Politics". The Intercept. Retrieved 27 December 2017.
  5. Subramanian, Samanth. "Why have two long-dead Austrian economists become cult figures in Brazil?". Quartz. Retrieved 2021-09-27.
  6. 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. S2CID 146456853.
  7. Neil (2019-12-01). "The Foundation for Economic Freedom and the Templeton Prize". BusinessWorld Online. Retrieved 2021-10-11.
  8. "Vaping: The real dollars behind fake consumer organisations". Le Monde.fr (in French). 2021-11-03. Retrieved 2021-11-04.
  9. Plehwe, Dieter (2020). Nine Lives of Neoliberalism (PDF). London: Verso. p. 259. ISBN 978-1-78873-253-6.
  10. James G. McGann (Director) (January 27, 2020). "2019 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report". Retrieved May 16, 2020.
  11. McGann, James G. (January 28, 2021). "2020 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-03-07. (QUOTE[s]: "one measure of a think tank's performance and impact" ... "designed for use in conjunction with other metrics to help identify and evaluate public policy research organizations around the world")
  12. "Margaret Thatcher and Antony Fisher: Free markets and philanthropy". Philanthropy Daily. 2013-04-10. Retrieved 2021-07-31.
  13. "A quiet Briton whose think tanks back a free market". Christian Science Monitor. 1984-01-19. ISSN 0882-7729. Retrieved 2021-07-31.
  14. Obituaries, Telegraph (2021-12-20). "Linda Whetstone, evangelist for the free market who also helped to raise standards in British dressage – obituary". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2022-01-07.
  15. "Global Freedom Fighters Remember Their Humble Leader, Linda Whetstone". National Review. 2021-12-22. Retrieved 2022-01-07.
  16. Salles-Djelic, Marie-Laure (2017-10-27). "Building an architecture for political influence: Atlas and the transnational institutionalization of the neoliberal think tank". Power, Policy and Profit: 25–44. doi:10.4337/9781784711214.00007. ISBN 9781784711214.
  17. Steinmo, Sven (2007). Growing Apart?: America and Europe in the 21st Century. Cambridge University Press. pp. 145–149. ISBN 978-1139468619.
  18. Growing apart? : America and Europe in the twenty-first century. Jeffrey Kopstein, Sven Steinmo. New York: Cambridge University Press. 2008. ISBN 978-0-511-36771-7. OCLC 191887434. With only a few exceptions, the birth of these organizations came after Atlas set up shop ...{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  19. Meagher, Richard (2008). Right Ideas: Discourse, Framing, and the Conservative Coalition. City University of New York. p. 94. ISBN 978-0549807100.
  20. FAQS (2014-08-14). "Was Atlas Network named after the book Atlas Shrugged?". Atlas Network. Retrieved 2018-04-20.
  21. "People". Atlas Network. Retrieved May 16, 2020.
  22. "As we endure COVID-19, don't underestimate our extraordinary freedom crisis". Washington Examiner. 2021-09-17. Retrieved 2022-03-25.
  23. Network, Atlas (2021-07-14). "New book 'Liberalism and the Free Society in 2021' examines the state of freedom worldwide". GlobeNewswire News Room. Retrieved 2022-03-25.
  24. Ball, Stephen (2012). Global Education Inc: New Policy Networks and the Neo-liberal Imaginary. Routledge. pp. 19–40. ISBN 978-0415684095.
  25. Spokesman-Review, Eli FrancovichThe. "Spokane doctor arrives at Ukraine military hospital ready to help — but what will that entail?". The Wenatchee World. Retrieved 2022-03-25.
  26. Brandon Christensen (2022-01-15). "Nightcap: Development with Dignity". Notes On Liberty. Retrieved 2022-03-25.
  27. Palmer, Tom G.; Warner, Matt (2022), "Development with dignity", Development with Dignity, Routledge, doi:10.4324/9781003229872-11/development-dignity-tom-palmer-matt-warner, ISBN 978-1-003-22987-2, retrieved 2022-03-25
  28. Pozzebon, Analysis by Stefano. "Analysis: Ecuador and Peru signal political divides that could trouble the region". CNN. Retrieved 2022-03-25.
  29. Wade, Magatte (2021-11-26). "Opinion | The COP26 Plan to Keep Africa Poor". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2022-03-25.
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  31. "How Leftist 'Saviors' Ruined Latin America". Reason.com. 2021-12-14. Retrieved 2022-03-25.
  32. Cruz, Diego Sánchez de la (2021-06-12). "Antonella Marty: "El liberalismo no son solo gráficos y números. Tiene un lado humano"". Libre Mercado (in European Spanish). Retrieved 2022-03-25.
  33. McGann, James; Whelan, Laura (2020). Global Think Tanks: Policy Networks and Governance. New York, NY: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-367-27854-0.
  34. Armiak, David. "Koch-Backed Donor Network Wants to Blame COVID Deaths on Public Health Measures". Truthout. Retrieved 2021-10-11.
  35. Hingston, Sandy (2020). "Science and Religion Have Never Been More at Odds. Can Conshohocken's Templeton Foundation Bridge the Divide?". Philadelphia Magazine. Archived from the original on 2020-10-13.
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  37. Rondon, Sabrina Martín (2021-12-14). "Over 800 Leaders Gather for Atlas Network's Freedom Dinner in Miami – El American". Retrieved 2022-02-01.
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  39. Rosell, Rosi (2021-12-22). "Yotuel Romero Shook Up LoanDeopt Park – Calle Ocho News". calleochonews.com. Retrieved 2022-01-07.
  40. Rosell, Rosi (2021-12-22). "Yotuel Romero Shook Up LoanDeopt Park – Calle Ocho News". calleochonews.com. Retrieved 2022-02-14.
  41. ""En Cuba se está dando un cambio fenomenal"". diariolasamericas.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 2022-02-14.
  42. Rondon, Sabrina Martín (2021-12-14). "Over 800 Leaders Gather for Atlas Network's Freedom Dinner in Miami – El American". Retrieved 2022-02-14.
  43. Fernandez, Ruhama. "I'm a Cuban dissident. We need America to stand with us against this communist regime". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2021-09-08.
  44. Melnyk, Nataliya. "A plea from Ukraine: Continue to stand with us". nydailynews.com. Retrieved 2022-03-18.
  45. Wyszomierski, Sara (2010). Guide to Funding for International & Foreign Programs. University of Michigan. p. 409.
  46. Roberts, Ken Schwencke, Mike Tigas, Sisi Wei, Alec Glassford, Andrea Suozzo, Brandon (9 May 2013). "Atlas Economic Research Foundation – Form Form 990 for period ending Dec 2020 – Nonprofit Explorer". ProPublica. Retrieved 2021-08-22.
  47. "Think Tanks Can Be a Frontline Defense against Pandemic Setbacks". National Review. 2021-12-13. Retrieved 2022-02-01.
  48. "Commemorating Sir John Templeton (1912–2012)", The Science and Religion Dialogue, Peter Lang, 2014, doi:10.3726/978-3-653-04874-2/12, ISBN 9783631651858, retrieved 2021-08-31
  49. "Acton Institute film about poverty wins $100,000 Templeton Freedom Award". mlive. 2015-11-13. Retrieved 2021-08-31.
  50. "Promoting Food Security Through Free Trade Ideas, A Congratulations to the Center for Indonesian Policy Studies". www.propertyrightsalliance.org. Retrieved 2021-09-30.
  51. "Promoting Food Security Through Free Trade Ideas, A Congratulations to the Center for Indonesian Policy Studies". www.propertyrightsalliance.org.
  52. "ILAPI to compete in 2019 Think tank shark tank Award in Kenya". Rainbow Radio International. 2019-08-18. Retrieved 2021-09-10.
  53. "Dhananath Fernando wins US$ 10,000 for Sri Lanka in Think Tank Shark Tank in Asia". www.dailymirror.lk. Retrieved 2021-09-11.
  54. Guarulhos, Redação Click (2021-06-26). "Projeto para favelas do Brasil vence Shark Tank da América Latina". Click Guarulhos (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 2021-09-10.
  55. "Put a Tiger In Your Think Tank". Mother Jones. Retrieved 2017-09-22.
  56. Smith, Julia; Thompson, Sheryl; Lee, Kelley (2016-01-01). "The atlas network: a "strategic ally" of the tobacco industry". The International Journal of Health Planning and Management. 32 (4): 433–448. doi:10.1002/hpm.2351. ISSN 1099-1751. PMC 5716244. PMID 27125556.
  57. "Think Tanks Can Be a Frontline Defense against Pandemic Setbacks". National Review. 2021-12-13. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
  58. "Think Tanks Can Be a Frontline Defense against Pandemic Setbacks". National Review. 2021-12-13. Retrieved 2022-01-24.
  59. "Atlas Network | Arlington, VA | Cause IQ". www.causeiq.com. Retrieved 2021-08-05.

Further reading
  • Marie Laure Djelic: Building an architecture for political influence: Atlas and the transnational institutionalization of the neoliberal think tank. In: Christina Garsten, Adrienne Sörbom (eds.), Power, Policy and Profit. Corporate Engagement in Politics and Governance. Elgar, Cheltenham 2017, ISBN 978 1 78471 120 7

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