Henry Jackson Society: Project for Democratic Geopolitics

The Henry Jackson Society Logo

The Henry Jackson Society Project for Democratic Geopolitics is a British neoconservative think tank and political action committee (PAC) which is supported by key US neocons and by two of Prime Minister David Cameron's closest advisers and ministers. It was launched in Cambridge on 11 March 2005 and in the Houses of Parliament on 22 November 2005. The manifesto for the society was published by the Social Affairs Unit.

Origins and launch

The Henry Jackson Society was originally an online organisation, only later moving to offices in London. According to its own account it was launched online on 11 March 2005, ‘after several months and much hard work.’ Its online launch was announced in a press release drafted by the ‘Organising Committee’ – the body which ran the Society before its registration as a UK charity. The Organising Committee was headed by Brendan Simms and Alan Mendoza, the Society’s co-founders. Brendan Simms, a Cambridge historian, was then best known for his book Unfinest Hour: Britain and the Destruction of Bosnia, a highly critical account of British (non-interventionist) policy during the Bosnian War. Mendoza had written his PhD thesis on British policy during the conflict.

The HJS’s homepage originally displayed the following message:

The Henry Jackson Society is a non-profit organisation that seeks to promote the following principles: that liberal democracy should be spread across the world; that as the world’s most powerful democracies, the United States and the European Union – under British leadership – must shape the world more actively by intervention and example; that such leadership requires political will, a commitment to universal human rights and the maintenance of a strong military with global expeditionary reach; and that too few of our leaders in Britain and the rest of Europe today are ready to play a role in the world that matches our strength and responsibilities.

The HJS was launched in Cambridge on 15 June 2005. At the launch event Gary Kent of Labour Friends of Iraq spoke about ‘The Left and Iraq’. That was followed by a drinks reception in the Fellow's Garden in Peterhouse and a formal dinner in Clare Hall. The Society’s Westminster launch took place on 22 November 2005 in the Jubilee Room of the House of Commons. It was hosted by Michael Gove and Gisela Stuart.

Aims and Objectives

Senator Henry 'Scoop' Jackson

Its statement of principles has been revised from its earlier, more forthright presentation of neocon themes, to a more oblique and ambiguous rendering of the same themes. It advocates a ‘forward strategy’ involving 'diplomatic, economic, cultural, and/or political means' to spread liberal democracy; and the maintenance of a strong military by US, EU and 'other democratic powers' armed with 'expeditionary capabilities with a global reach' so it can preempt threats and carry out humanitarian interventions. Furthermore, it supports 'necessary furtherance of European military modernisation and integration under British leadership'; believes that 'only modern liberal democratic states are truly legitimate'. Reiterating a familiar neocon grievance, it questions the legitimacy of 'the political or human rights pronouncements of any international or regional organisation which admits undemocratic states'; and invokes an old Irving Kristol line in giving 'two cheers for capitalism', while accepting that the state has a role in providing services and in maintaining the environment. For all its celebrations of liberal democracy, it does not rule out engagement with 'repressive regimes' which, it insists, can 'only be temporary'. It ends by affirming a 'strong commitment to individual and civil liberties in democratic states, even and especially when we are under attack' .

In its earlier version it read: "liberal democracy should be spread across the world; that as the world’s most powerful democracies, the United States and the European Union—under British leadership—must shape the world more actively by intervention and example; that such leadership requires political will, a commitment to universal human rights and the maintenance of a strong military with global expeditionary reach; and that too few of our leaders in Britain and the rest of Europe today are ready to play a role in the world that matches our strength and responsibilities."

In the Guardian Neil Clark quoted HJS as explaining that the "forward strategy" involved spreading "liberal democracy across the world" through "the full spectrum of 'carrot' capacities, be they diplomatic, economic, cultural or political, but also, when necessary, those 'sticks' of the military domain".

Co President Brendan Simms wrote in July 2006 that the Society's aim "is not to justify the mistakes of the past, but to stake a claim for intellectual hegemony for the future":

If you have some liberal views on domestic politics, but are prepared to concede that George Bush might be broadly right on foreign policy. If you are concerned at the spread of a conversational consensus in Britain and Europe which involves saying things like "I don't know how anybody with any intelligence can vote for Bush", even if you would not have voted for Bush yourself. If you know that we have taken many wrong turnings since the removal of Saddam Hussein, but do not feel that the whole enterprise was wrong from the start. If you feel all or some of these things; or might be persuaded of them, then the Henry Jackson Society is for you, and we invite you to join us.

The British Moment

The Henry Jackson Society's July 2006 pamphlet, The British Moment.

In July 2006, the Henry Jackson Society published The British Moment: The Case for Democratic Geo-Politics in the Twenty-First Century, a manifesto, published by the Social Affairs Unit, which argued "it is time for Britain, and indeed, the rest of Europe, to reclaim the noble tradition of liberal interventionism and pursue an active strategy across the globe."

The Weekly Standard wrote of the book that ""Scoop Jackson" Democrats like Sen. Joe Lieberman are increasingly rare, and increasingly abhorred by their own party. But in Europe, a Scoop revival may be stirring." A short of account of the book' launch concluded with the admonition: "Now if only a Scoop revival would take hold among our Democratic friends here in the States."

People

Organising Committee

Prior to its registration as a charity the Henry Jackson Society was run by its Organising Committee. The earliest record of the members of the Organising Committee available in the Internet Archive is from 26 January 2006 and lists the following members:

• Brendan Simms, Co-President
• Alan Mendoza, Interim Executive Director
• James Rogers, Executive Secretary
• John Bew, Vice-President
• Gideon Alexander Mailer, Secretary
• Matthew Jamison, Media Secretary
• Martyn Frampton, Web-Editor; Section Director, Greater Middle East
• Tobias Harris, Section Director, Asia / Pacific Rim
• Marko Attila Hoare, Section Co-Director, Greater Europe
• Marc Sidwell, Section Director, Governance / Strategy
• Tristan Stubbs, Section Director, Environment and Economy
• Christopher Swift, Section Director, Russia and Eurasia

Signatories of the Statement of Principles

• Michael Ancram QC MP, Member of Parliament for Devizes
• Gerard Baker, Assistant Editor, The Times
• Paul Beaver, Special Advisor to the Parliamentary Defence Committee; Director, Beaver Westminster Ltd.
• Paul Bew, Professor of Politics, Queen’s University, Belfast
• Nicholas Boles, Director, Policy Exchange
• Colonel Tim Collins, Commander, First Battalion Royal Irish Regiment, Iraq 2003
• Paul Cornish, Carrington Professor of International Security, RIIA
• Richard Dearlove, Master of Pembroke College; Former Head of MI6
• John Drewienkiewicz (Major-General) Military Advisor to the High Representative for Bosnia
• Mark Etherington, Civil Governor, Wasit (Kut) province, Iraq, 2003-2004
• Michael Gove, MP Member of Parliament for Surrey Heath; former Shadow Minister for Housing, now Secretary of State for Education in UK Coalition Government (2010- )
• Robert Halfon, Political Director, Conservative Friends of Israel
• Oliver Kamm, Columnist, The Times
• Jackie Lawrence, Former Member of Parliament for Preseli Pembrokeshire
• Denis MacShane MP, Member of Parliament for Rotherham
• Jan Mortier, Associate of the Council for a Community of Democracies
• Fionnuala Jay O'Boyle MBE, Director, Jay Associates
• Andrew Lever, University of Cambridge
• Stephen Pollard, Columnist, The Times
• Lord Powell of Bayswater, Personal Advisor to the Prime Minister for Defence and Security, 1984-1991
• Andrew Roberts, Author, Journalist and Television Presenter
• Jamie Shea, Deputy Assistant Secretary General for External Relations, NATO
• Irwin Stelzer, Director of Economic Policy Studies, Hudson Institute. Advisor to Rupert Murdoch who in turn recommended him to Tony Blair.
• Gisela Stuart MP, Member of Parliament for Birmingham Edgbaston; Member of the Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee
• David Trimble, Former Member of Parliament for Upper Bann; Winner of Nobel Peace Prize
• Edward Vaizey MP, Member of Parliament for Wantage, Minister of State (Culture, Communications and Creative Industries) in the UK Coalition Government (2010- )
• David Willetts MP, Member of Parliament for Havant; former Shadow Education Secretary, now Minister of State (Universities and Science) at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills in the UK Coalition Government (2010- )

Staff

HJS Staff
London
Alan Mendoza – Executive Director	Robin Shepherd - Director, International Affairs	Marko Attila Hoare – Section Director, European Neighbourhood
Robin Simcox – Section Director, Britain in the World	Tufail Ahmad – Section Director, South Asia	James Coady – Section Director, European Union
Camilla Hagelund – Section Director, Russia & Eurasia	Joe Rolling – Section Director, South East Asia & Australasia	Peter Cannon – Section Director, Latin America
Ben Caldecott – Section Director, East Asia	Yaniv Ofek – Associate Fellow, Middle East	Corine Wood-Donnelly – Associate Fellow, Africa
Marc Sidwell – Associate Fellow, Governance, Strategy & Terrorism	Niccolo Pantucci – Associate Fellow, North America	Claudia Schwartz – Associate Fellow, Middle East
Timothy Stafford – Associate Fellow, North America	Rosalba Junginger, Research Assistant	Kyra Choucroun, Research Assistant
Georgina Duffin – Research Assistant	Kimberley Trewhitt, Research Assistant	Kate McCormick - Research Assistant
Marcel Thach – Research Assistant
Brussels
Alexandros Petersen – Section Director, North America, Russia & Eurasia
Jerusalem
Barak M. Seener – Section Director, Middle East
Washington D.C.
Sarah Platts – Program Director, Washington D.C.	Eric Danko - Strategic Relations Manager	Brooke Goldstein, Associate Fellow, Governance, Strategy and Terrorism
Karla Jones – Associate Fellow and Director of Development
Cambridge
Brendan Simms – President	John Bew – Vice-President	James Rogers – Associate Fellow, European Union
Gideon Mailer – Section Director, Africa	Matthew Jamison – Executive Secretary
Tristan Stubbs – Section Director, Environment and Economy

Former Staff

Patrick Schneider-Sikorsky | Deep Kisor Datta-Ray | Katharine Slocombe | Duncan Crossey | Tomas Weiss | Benjamin Charlton

International Patrons

Bruce P. Jackson, President, The Project on Transitional Democracies	Robert Kagan, Senior Associate, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace	William Kristol, Editor, The Weekly Standard; PNAC
Vytautas Landsbergis – Member of European Parliament; President of Lithuania, 1990-1992	Clifford D. May, President, Foundation for the Defense of Democracies	Michael McFaul, Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution; Senior Advisor, National Democratic Institute
Joshua Muravchik, Resident Scholar, American Enterprise Institute	Richard Perle, Former American Assistant Secretary of Defense	Jack Sheehan, Defense Policy Board; Former NATO General, Supreme Allied Commander, Atlantic
R. James Woolsey, Jr., Former Director of the CIA	Thomas Cushman – Founding Editor and Editor-At-Large, Journal of Human Rights	Max Boot, Senior Fellow for National Security Studies, The Council on Foreign Relations
Martin Bútora – Slovak Ambassador to the USA, 1999-2003; Co-Founder, Institute for Public Affairs, & Public Against Violence	Michael Danby – Australian Labor Member of Parliament for Melbourne Ports	Jean Bethke Elshtain – Contributing Editor, The New Republic
Carl Gershman – President, National Endowment for Democracy	Dore Gold – Former Foreign Policy Advisor to the Prime Minister of Israel	Hubertus Hoffmann – President, The World Security Network
Richard D. Kahlenberg – Author	Max Kampelman	Herbert London – President, Hudson Institute
Stephen J. Solarz – Member of the U.S. House of Representatives (D-NY), 1975-1993	Michael Stürmer – Chief Correspondent, Die Welt	Alejandro Toledo – President of Peru, 2001-2006
Elbegdorj Tsakhia – Leader, Mongolian Democracy Movement; Prime Minister of Mongolia, 1998, 2004-2006

Featured lecturers

2008

David Alton (Lord), Vincent Brossel, Lynn Lee and In Ho Park | Ron Silver | Raphael Perl | Herbert London | Alexander Lennon | Haim Koren | Rob Singh and Timothy Lynch | Jonathan Paris | Marc Ginsberg | Shmuel Bar | Mithal al-Alusi | Ahmet Davutoglu | Daniel Kimmage | Ashraf Ghani and Clare Lockhart from the Institute of State Effectiveness | Thomas Cushman | Joseph S. Nye, Jr. | Stephen Solarz | Keith Pavlischek Senior Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, Washington DC | Edward Lucas | Omar Fadhil | Ilan Berman | Martin van Creveld | Patrick Clawson | Shai Feldman | Emanuele Ottolenghi | Carl Gershman

2007

Farah Pandith | John Bolton | Ariel Cohen | Raymond Tanter

Affiliations

• Centre for Social Cohesion – they've co-sponsored events.
• Chechnya Peace Forum, co-hosted 'Russia A Year On: Testing Medvedev's Credentials' In the House of Commons on Tuesday 2nd June 2009
• Global Power Europe – is the web log of HJS European Union Section Director James Rogers and offers commentary on developments affecting the European Union.
• Greater Surbiton – is the web log of HJS European Neighbourhood Section Director Marko Hoare and offers commentary on policy developments
• Worldview – Presented by The Henry Jackson Society's Executive Director, Alan Mendoza, it was screened weekly on the 18 Doughty Street Talk TV network
• Young Professionals in Foreign Policy (YPFP – London branch)
• Campaign for a UN Democracy Caucus.

Contact, References and Resources

Contact

c/o Dr. Brendan Simms

The Henry Jackson Society

Peterhouse

Cambridge CB2 1RD

United Kingdom

Website: www.henryjacksonsociety.org

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6786954801

Resources

Internet Archive Wayback Machine, henryjacksonsociety.org

Profiles

• Wikipedia Henry Jackson Society
• The Henry Jackson Society, Guardian (UK).
• Rightweb Henry Jackson Society Project

Articles & Commentary

• Beth B. Alexander, "'Crying Wolf' over the neoconservatives," UPI (Washington Times), November 22, 2004.
• David Clark, "The neconservative temptation beckoning Britain's bitter liberals. For leftists divided by Iraq, tomorrow's launch of a rightwing political society could be a transforming moment," Guardian (UK), 21 November 2005.
• Klaus Dodds and Stuart Elden Thinking Ahead: David Cameron, the Henry Jackson Society and British Neo-conservatism The British Journal of Politics & International Relations Volume 10, Issue 3, pages 347–363, August 2008
• John Feffer, "To Link or Not to Link: The Human Rights Question in North Korea," Foreign Policy in Focus, 19 December 2005.
• James Heartfield, "Humanitarian interventionists dig in. In his new book Anti-Totalitarianism, Oliver Kamm makes a shrill and inconsistent defence of the Iraq war," Spiked Online, December 16, 2005.
• Cédric Housez, "The London-Washington Axis Called Into Question," Bella Ciao, 7 January 2006.
• Fran Kelly, "New Life for Neoconservatism?" ABC Radio News (Australia), 6 January 2006.
• Oliver Kamm, "Recalling Scoop Jackson," Oliver Kamm Blog, 14 April 2005.
• Oliver Kamm, "Henry Jackson's legacy," Oliver Kamm Blog, 28 November 2005.
• Jim Lobe The Henry M. Jackson Society Hosts Friends of Israel in London, Lobelog, July 19th, 2010
• Euan MacDonald, "New neo-conservative society launched in UK," The TransAtlantic Assembly Blog, 23 November 2005.
• "Iran - The Media Fall Into Line" Media Lens, 9 February 2006. (Info on some of the HJS signatories.)
• Tom Mills Friends of Israel Initiative: The neoconservatives’ eastern front, Spinwatch, 27 July 2010
• Stephen Pollard, "What’s left, right, centre and neocon all over. A new group shows that the old party political divides have broken down," (The Sunday) Times Online (UK), November 27, 2005. (NB: Pollard is one of the signatories of the HJS's principles. However, the article has no acknowledgement of this important simple fact.)*"The launch of The Henry Jackson Society," tygerland, November 21, 2005.
• Osama Saeed, "Much to be afraid of in David Cameron," Rolled-up Trousers, 7 December 2005.
• Gisela Stuart, "Finding Neo. Gisela Stuart argues for a robust foreign policy," Progress (UK), January/February 2006.
• Ros Taylor, "Inside the hawks' nest," Guardian (UK) News Blog, November 22, 2005.
• Letters, "Don't blame 'Scoop' for the neocons," Guardian (UK), 23 November 2005. Including a letter from Alan Mendoza, James Rogers, Gideon Mailer, John Bew and Martyn Frampton of The Henry Jackson Society denying that the society is right wing or 'neoconservative' and from critic Neil Clark
• "The Henry Jackson Society: The high priests of British Neoconservatism," tygerland, 7 February 2006.
• Editorial: "Henry Jackson Society = World War Three," Irish Political Review, December 2005.