International Policy Network

This article is part of the Nuclear Spin project of Spinwatch.

IPN's former offices, Bedford Chambers, in London's Covent Garden, next door to the Rock Garden

The International Policy Network (IPN) was founded by Antony Fisher in the UK as the International Institute for Economic Research (IIER) in 1971. Fisher went on to found the Atlas Economic Research Foundation in the USA in 1981, and from this point the IIER traded as Atlas Foundation UK. The organisation changed its name to IPN. In the USA, the Atlas Foundation provides training and funding to start libertarian think-tanks. Fisher also founded the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), a pro-free market think tank based in London. The founding Director of IPN, Julian Morris, was previously Director of the IEA's Environment and Technology Programme. The IPN is based in an office in Bedford Chambers in King Street, Covent Garden, London.

The Atlas Economic Research Foundation is headquartered in Fairfax, Virginia. Atlas was established with the aim of bringing "freedom to the world" by helping "develop and strengthen a network of market-oriented think tanks that spans the globe".

The IPN has addresses in London and Washington D.C. The Washington address is the same as that of the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI). Roger Bate who is an IPN Fellow, and a long-time associate of the IPN's Director Julian Morris, is an Adjunct Fellow of the CEI. Kendra Okonski who is the IPN's 'Project Director' in London was previously a CEI researcher.

In 2001 the name was changed to the IPN and it expanded its operations with significant corporate funding. Its international Directors then were Roger Bate and Julian Morris, two people who have spear-headed the pro-corporate, anti-environmental debate for over a decade in the UK, whilst supporting controversial industries. Bate co-founded the European Science and Environment Forum in 1994, which arose from the concept for a pro-biotech / tobacco, chemical industry front group in Europe funded by Philip Morris. He also solicited money of the tobacco industry for a book on risk and smoking, and Julian Morris was a witness for the GM industry Life Sciences Network at the GM Commission in New Zealand. Some unknown industry / industries are now funding ESEF / IPN to counter the environmental movement on a global scale.

In a March 2009 presentation Tim Montgomerie and Matthew Elliott described IPN as part of the infrastructure of the conservative movement in Britain.

Sustainable Development Network

Okonski and Morris appear to be the driving force behind another organisation, the Sustainable Development Network (SDN), while Morris and Bate connect to the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) and the European Science and Environment Forum (ESEF).

IPN's mission is to 'share ideas that free people'. It believes in de-regulation but that 'where regulations are necessary... they should be based on sound science and good economics.'

IPN works with a network of individuals and organizations around the world who share its beliefs. The IEA and the ESEF are both on the list of the IPN's 'partner organisations'. The CEI is not currently on the list, despite sharing its Washington address with the IPN.

On 3 March 2003 IPN and Spiked Online co-sponsored a debate held at PR firm Hill and Knowlton's premises in London on "GM food: should labelling be mandatory?" The seminar was introduced by Greg Conko of the CEI. Tony Gilland of the Institute of Ideas also spoke.

Former DuPont PR man and director of the Scientific Alliance Martin Livermore is an IPN Fellow.

Front group

The IPN is becoming one of the most successful international right-wing corporate front organisations. It also funds and has set up the websites of certain "partner "organisations which have all the appearances of being African or Asian NGOs, but seem little more than satellite front organisations whose true identity is also hidden. In 2004 it received funding from Exxon to work on climate and a book was published by the IPN edited by Kendra Okonski. Okonski and Julian Morris still deny climate change and the need for any action. Writing last month Morris wrote "There are no solid grounds for assuming, as Messrs Blair and Howard do, that global warming demands immediate and far-reaching action".

Okonski is a long-time libertarian activist and daughter of a US lumber industrialist. Okonski has a history of counter-protests against progressive and environmental organisations. She organised the pro-farmers counter-protests at the WSSD. She also co-founded and managed the website counterprotest.net and organised the Washington-area 'Walk for Capitalism' in 2001. Okonski still remains the contact for the "Sustainable Development Network", another guise of the IPN. Okonski also has set up a number of websites of IPN's affiliates organisations that raises questions about their true independence. What you have here is a first world corporate front organisation setting up websites for so-called third world organisations, who then attack western environmentalists for being Imperialists. These include

• Institute of Public Policy Analysis - Nigeria
• Inter Region Economic Network (IREN) Kenya
• Liberty Institute - India
• The Alternate Solutions Institute, Pakistan.

Views on Climate Change

The IPN issued a publication in 2008 considering governments' plans to cap greenhouse gas emissions as ineffective against the threat of climate change and suggesting that it would only exacerbate the global economic crisis.

In a Financial Times blog response to the question, "What do you think the impact will be of US President Barack Obama’s decision to attend the summit at the end of the conference rather than the early stages?", IPN executive director Julian Morris stated that Obama would be "bask[ing] in the associated fanfare [that comes with his Nobel Peace Prize]" and "seek[ing] a new arena in which to enhance his public image". He then points out that the USA's credentials with regard to a commitment to climate change are not at all good. He explains, "In 1997, prior to the UN climate change conference in Kyoto, the Senate passed a resolution - by 95 votes to 0 - that the US should not be a signatory to any agreement which would seek to limit or reduce the US’s greenhouse gas emissions or result in serious harm to the US economy," before adding that members of Obama's administration - and British and EU officials - are currently, and have been for some months now, urging developing countries to commit to "binding restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions.""

Funding and Connections

Its website states, "IPN is supported entirely by charitable donations from individuals, foundations and businesses. It receives no money from any government or political parties, and it does no contract work." However it has been described as receiving "significant corporate funding", from "some unknown industry/industries...to counter the environmental movement on a global scale."They are known to have received funding from Exxon in 2004 to work on climate and they published a book denying climate change and the need for action.

The UK branch of the IPN is also part of the Civil Society Coalition on Climate Change (CSCCC) which in its own words aims to "educate the public about the science and economics of climate change in an impartial manner."

Affiliations

According to a Telegraph blog by Alex Singleton, the IPN was formerly (prior to January 2009) a member of the Stockholm Network, but left at an unspecified date.

Principals

• Linda Whetstone – Chairman

Contact, References and Resources

Contact

Rooms 200-205
Temple Chambers
3-7 Temple Avenue
London EC4Y 0HP