Globalisation:Cato Institute
Contents
History
The Cato institute is a ‘public policy research organization - think tank’ which was founded in 1977 by Edward H. Crane (Founder and President) and Charles Koch (Vice President of Koch Industries) [1] [2]. The name Cato Institute was based on the early 18th-century British essays written by John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon under the alias of Cato, where the series of essays were in support of freedom of speech and political liberty. These very principles such as: ‘Individual liberty, limited government, free markets and peace’ form the basis of the Cato Institute’s values today [3] [4].
Ideology, Mission and Aims
‘The mission of the Cato Institute is to increase the understanding of public policies based on the principles of limited government, free markets and individual liberty’ [5]. The research conducted in order to achieve these fundamental principles - described as being ‘nonpartisan and independent’- are conducted by many respected scholars and analyst whose work has been published in mainstream media such as: ‘The Wall Street Journal and the Washington post [6] [7] [8].
In terms of Aims, the Cato institute are in pursuit of more lenient approach towards policy regarding environmental issues.
Views on climate change and environmental policy
There is a wide range of policy areas where extensive research has been conducted by various scholars, such as: Education; Finance; Foreign Policy; Health; Tax, Trade and Immigration [9]. However, the controversial research produced by Cato’s scholars on the topic of Climate Change and Environmental Policy in particular is one of interest within the topic of today’s globalised world.
People
Directors
The Cato institute is lead by a board of directors including some key players such as: Founder and President of Cato institute Edward H.Crane; Robert A. Levy (Chairman of the board, Cato Institute); and David H. Koch (Executive Vice President of Koch Industries).
David Koch’s beliefs are in line with the Cato Institute, where he is in support of lower corporate as well as personal taxation through privatisation of social security, and deregulation of industries by the government - especially regarding environmental policy. It has also been stated by the Research Centre for Public Integrity that between 1986-1993 the Koch family gave $11 million dollars to the Cato Institute. Koch industries operate three oil refineries based in Alaska, Texas and Minnesota with revenues estimated to be around $100 billion dollars [10]. Interestingly, the Political Economy Research Institute drew up a list of 100 toxic air polluters in March 2010: based on their data Koch Industries was ranked 10th [11]. In another case, Koch Industries was sued by the government in 1995 and 1997 over a reported 300 oil spills at pipelines which were owned and operated by the company. The lawsuits included stringent penalties - from $71 million to $214 million- placed on the company for dumping an estimated three million gallons of oil into lakes and streams in six states [12]
Funding And Support
On the website CATO puts across a very proud acceptance of funding from essentially anything bar the government. One can give to the CATO institute and become not just a supporter but "you become a part of Cato". This would mean that CATO is free to be a non partisan think tank which is entirely independent. Although this is given to be the case on the website it is not necessarily how it is perceived by others elsewhere.
An important case is one of Doug Bandow who was a senior scholar at CATO and who was found to be taking money from Jack Abramoff for writing articles which would favour him. Jack Abramoff was a lobbyist for a top lawyer and lobbying firm in America and is currently in prison for committing fraud against 4 American tribes for millions of dollars. This incident which can be further probed is just one example of discrepancies within a company with such ‘pride’ in independence [13] .
Suggestions for sub-pages
Just suggestions - feel free to change/add to this - although it is recommended that you create several main pages linked to from this main project page so group members can edit simultaneously.
Globalisation:Cato Institute: Ideology and aims
Globalisation:Cato Institute: Activities
Globalisation:Cato Institute: Funding and support
Globalisation:Cato Institute: Views on climate change and environmental policy
Contacts
website: http://www.cato.org/
Cato Institute is a think tank [15]
- ↑ Cato, "[1]", access 12.10.10
- ↑ Cato, "[2]", access 12.10.10
- ↑ Cato, "[3]", access 12.10.10
- ↑ Cato, "[4]", access 12.10.10
- ↑ Cato, "[5]", access 12.10.10
- ↑ Cato, "[6]", access 12.10.10
- ↑ Cato, "[7]", access 12.10.10
- ↑ Cato, "[8]", access 12.10.10
- ↑ Cato, "[9]", access 12.10.10
- ↑ Cato, "[10]", access 12.10.10
- ↑ Cato, "[11]”, access 14.10.10
- ↑ Cato, "[12]", access 15.10.10
- ↑ Cato,"[13]", access 13.10.10
- ↑ Cato,"[14]", access 13.10.10
- ↑ Cato, "Home", access 05.10.10
Melvina Robbin Lauren Rodier Laura Robertson
