Michael Mosbacher

Michael Mosbacher is the director of the Social Affairs Unit. and managing editor of its web based journal Standpoint. Mosbacher sits on the 'Academic Advisory Council' of the Tax Payers Alliance.

He studied politics at Exeter University, writing his Master's dissertation on the impact of the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union upon the British Communist movement. A version of this was reproduced by the Libertarian Alliance as Political Notes No. 127. In 1996 it was reported that he 'is about to do a PhD in Eastern European Politics at the London School of Economics.'

Mosbacher at one time worked at the Adam Smith Institute. From there he went on to become deputy director of the Social Affairs Unit, and became director on the retirement of Digby Anderson in 2004.

Publications

He is Editor (with Digby Anderson) of The British Woman Today: a qualitative survey of images in women's magazines and Another Country. He is a contributor to Scot-Free: How England would fare without Scotland and The Dictionary of Dangerous Words.

Marketing The Revolution: The New Anti-Capitalism and The Attack Upon Corporate Brands. In a review on Samizdata.net, Brian Micklethwait who describes Mosbacher as 'a longish standing friend/acquaintance' notes:

There's a biographical note at the back which tells us that Mike, who is now the Deputy Director of the Social Affairs Unit, once upon a time "studied politics at Exeter University, writing his Master's dissertation on the impact of the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union upon the British Communist movement". This, or something pretty like it, was published by the Libertarian Alliance as Political Notes No. 127. This new piece is the logical successor of that earlier one. It describes some of the new globalised groups and campaigning methods and ideological themes that have elbowed their way forward to fill the void once occupied by those pathetic old Bolsheviks and all their massed ranks of useful and not so useful idiots.

Micklethwait then cites the press release which accompanied the publication::

The broader message is an old, and rather tired one, hatred of capitalism, the belief that the world is diametrically and permanently divided between the exploiting corporate fat cat few and the exploited masses. What's changed is the way that message is now being marketed to a new, wider audience by piggy-backing on the corporations' own publicity. The activists do this, often via websites, by cleverly parodying corporate ads, organising media-friendly stunts at AGMs and launching boycotts.