 | |
| Author | Donald Gutstein |
|---|---|
| Publisher | James Lorimer & Company |
Publication date | September 3, 2014 |
| Pages | 288 |
| ISBN | 9781459406636 |
Harperism: How Stephen Harper and his think tank colleagues have transformed Canada is a non-fiction book written by Vancouver-based Donald Gutstein, media critic and professor emeritus at Simon Fraser University's School of Communication. [1] Gutstein's work focuses on links between business, the media, and politics. [2]
Gutstein explores the relationship between business, corporations and politics. [3] In his 2009 book entitled Not a conspiracy theory : how business propaganda hijacks democracy, Gutstein traced the rise of "prolonged" corporate "propaganda campaigns" in the United States that influence public opinion on social and political issues. [3] In Harperism, Gutstein writes that Canadian think tanks such as the Fraser Institute established in 1974, the C.D. Howe and the 1990s "cohort of right wing think-tanks across Canada, such as Atlantic Institute for Market Studies (AIMS), the Montreal Economic Institute and Frontier Centre for Public Policy, have increasingly harnessed the media. In 2006 Peter Munk’s Aurea foundation funded neoliberal think tanks. In 2009 the School of Public Policy, University of Calgary functioned as "a neoliberal think tank" at the university. [4] [5] Gutstein cites as examples media coverage of medicare, climate change, and Canada's economic integration with the United States. [6] Gutstein points out that think tanks succeeded in establishing consensus on the benefits of "small government", "perpetual war", and a "free market and the disadvantages of "tax increases to fund social programs" which has "severely" limited "political discourse". [7]
In his chapter entitled "Convince Canadians of the importance of economic freedom," Gutstein described how neo-liberals and libertarians perceive Canada's Supply management as an obstacle to economic freedom and how think tanks and the media have attacked Canada's supply management. [4] : 38 Under Stephen Harper, neo-liberal think tanks and through them, the media, called for the elimination of supply management with its alleged market distorting mechanisms. [4] : 38 The Fraser Institute's use of the "egg marketing cartel" in a 1981 report by American economist Thomas Borcherding, [8] marked the beginning of an aggressive campaign to end supply management in the ensuing decades. Gutstein sharply challenged journalist and editor Neil Reynolds (1940 – 2013), a libertarian, who criticized supply management in his call for economic freedom in thirteen Globe and Mail columns from c. 1997 through 2012, for an inaccurate portrayal of New Zealand's dairy industry. [4] : 39
In his review published in the Canadian Journal of Communication , Brian Gorman described [7] how Gutstein calls for "a new role for government … one that doesn’t treat everything as an offshoot of the economy, but reincorporates social and political rights into its mandate while addressing the dominance of the market in social and political life." [4] : 249
Canadian columnist and editor Andrew Coyne ridiculed Gutstein's premise that Harper and Coyne himself as a Donner Canadian Foundation board member, were part of a "vast network of free-market policy shops...The dullest commonplaces of mainstream economics are here transformed into a strange and threatening "neo-liberal" conspiracy, while pimply economists in threadbare offices are endowed with an occult power they never knew they possessed." [9]
A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmental organizations, but some are semi-autonomous agencies within government, and some are associated with particular political parties, businesses or the military. Think tanks are often funded by individual donations, with many also accepting government grants.
Neoliberalism, also neo-liberalism, is both a political philosophy and a term used to signify the late-20th-century political reappearance of 19th-century ideas associated with free-market capitalism. The term has multiple, competing definitions, and is often used pejoratively. In scholarly use, the term is frequently undefined or used to characterize a vast variety of phenomena, but is primarily used to describe the transformation of society due to market-based reforms.
The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) is a progressive think tank based in London. It was founded in 1988 by Lord Hollick and Lord Eatwell, and is an independent registered charity. The think tank aims to maintain the momentum of progressive thought in the United Kingdom through well-researched and clearly argued policy analysis, reports, and publications; as well as a high media profile.
The Adam Smith Institute (ASI) is a UK-based neoliberal think tank and lobbying group, named after Adam Smith, a Scottish moral philosopher and classical economist. The Institute advocates free market and classical liberal ideas, primarily via the formation of policy options with regard to public choice theory, which political decision makers seek to develop upon. ASI President Madsen Pirie has sought to describe the activity of the organisation as "[w]e propose things which people regard as being on the edge of lunacy. The next thing you know, they're on the edge of policy".
The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) is a right-wing, free market think tank registered as a UK charity. Associated with the New Right, the IEA describes itself as an "educational research institute" and says that it seeks to "further the dissemination of free-market thinking" by "analysing and expounding the role of markets in solving economic and social problems". The IEA is the oldest free market think-tank in the UK and was established to promote free-market responses to economic challenges by targeting influential academics and journalists, as well as students, in order to propagate these ideas widely. Adopting as its credo FA Hayek's view that "yesterday's dissent becomes today's consensus," the IEA says that it prioritises producing work with a focus on economic insights over partisan politics.
The Fraser Institute is a libertarian-conservative Canadian public policy think tank and registered charity. It is headquartered in Vancouver, with additional offices in Calgary, Toronto, and Montreal. It has links to think tanks worldwide through the Economic Freedom Network and is a member of the free-market Atlas Network.
The Mont Pelerin Society (MPS), founded in 1947, is an international organization of economists, philosophers, historians, intellectuals and business leaders. It has been described as neoliberal in its ideological orientation, though some scholars claim that it is classically liberal. It is headquartered at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas. The society advocates freedom of expression, free market economic policies and the political values of an open society. Further, the society seeks to discover ways in which the private sector can replace many functions currently provided by government entities.
The Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) is an American conservative, libertarian economic think tank. Founded in 1946 in New York City, FEE is now headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. It is a member of the State Policy Network.
Sir Antony George Anson Fisher, nicknamed AGAF, was a British businessman and think tank founder. He participated in the formation of various libertarian organisations during the second half of the twentieth century, including the Institute of Economic Affairs and the Atlas Network. Through Atlas Network, he helped establish up to 150 other institutions worldwide.
Atlas Network, formerly known as 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, free-market, and conservative groups around the world.
The Mercatus Center is an American libertarian, free-market-oriented non-profit think tank. The Mercatus Center is located at the George Mason University campus, however the organization is privately funded and its employees are independent of the university. It is directed by Benjamin Klutsey and its board is chaired by American economist Tyler Cowen. The Center works with policy experts, lobbyists, and government officials to connect academic learning with real-world practice. Taking its name from the Latin word for market, the center advocates free-market approaches to public policy. During the George W. Bush administration's campaign to reduce government regulation, The Wall Street Journal reported, "14 of the 23 rules the White House chose for its 'hit list' to eliminate or modify were Mercatus entries".
Anti-environmentalism is a set of ideas and actions that oppose environmentalism as a whole or specific environmental policies or environmental initiatives.
The Montreal Economic Institute (MEI) is a non-profit research organization based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It aims at promoting economic liberalism through economic education of the general public and what it regards as efficient public policies in Quebec and Canada through studies and conferences. Its research areas include different topics such as health care, education, taxation, labour, agriculture and the environment. Its studies are often mentioned in the media.
Floyd Arthur "Baldy" Harper was an American academic, economist and writer who was best known for founding the Institute for Humane Studies in 1961.
The Canada West Foundation is a conservative non-partisan think tank based in Calgary, Alberta. It primarily conducts research on issues of concern in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, but also on issues of national significance.
Thomas Earl Borcherding was an American economist. His areas of specialization include microeconomics, public choice, property rights, exchange and transaction costs, politics and public choice, sociological economics, and the role of institutions in economic, political, and social choice.
Canada's supply management, abbreviated SM, is a national agricultural policy framework used across the country, which controls the supply of dairy, poultry and eggs through production and import controls and pricing mechanisms. The supply management system was authorized by the 1972 Farm Products Agencies Act, which established the two national agencies that oversee the system. The Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada federal department is responsible for both the Canadian Dairy Commission and its analogue for eggs, chicken and turkey products, the Farm Products Council of Canada. Five national supply management organizations, the SM-5 Organizations — Egg Farmers of Canada (EFC), Turkey Farmers of Canada (TFC), Chicken Farmers of Canada (CFC), the Canadian Hatching Egg Producers (CHEP) and the Ottawa-based Canadian Dairy Commission (CDC), a Crown corporation — in collaboration with provincial and national governing agencies, organizations and committees, administer the supply management system.
Masters of the Universe: Hayek, Friedman, and the Birth of Neoliberal Politics is a 2012 book by barrister Daniel Stedman Jones, in which the author traces the intellectual development and political rise of neoliberalism in the United States and the United Kingdom. Originally a PhD thesis, the author adapted it into a book.
The Canada Strong and Free Network based in Calgary, Alberta, is a not-for-profit political advocacy group that was established in 2005 by Preston Manning to promote conservative principles. It was known for the annual "high-profile" Manning Networking Conference (MNC). The Manning Centre operates the for-profit think tank the Manning Foundation, which undertakes some research and analysis, while the Manning Centre self-describes as a "do-tank", that focuses on advocacy, training and networking events for conservatives.
Emma Gilchrist is the Canadian co-founder and editor-in-chief of The Narwhal.