International Policy Network

The International Policy Network (IPN) was a think tank based in the City of London, founded 1971, and closed in September 2011. It was a non-partisan, non-profit organization, but critics said it was a "corporate-funded campaigning group". IPN ran campaigns on issues such as trade, development, healthcare and the environment. IPN’s campaigns were pro-free market.

Vision
According to its website, "IPN aims to empower individuals and promote respect for people and property in order to eliminate poverty, improve human health and protect the environment. IPN promotes public awareness of the importance of this vision for all people, both rich and poor.

"IPN seeks to achieve its vision by promoting the role of market institutions in certain key international policy debates: sustainable development, health, and globalisation and trade. IPN works with academics, think tanks, journalists and policymakers on every continent."

History
IPN was founded as a UK charity by Sir Antony Fisher in 1971. The mission of this body is to "Promote the advancement of learning by research into economic and political science and the publication of such research". The charity’s original name was The International Institute for Economic Research, and now is The Atlas Economic Research Foundation (UK), but operates under the name International Policy Network.

IPN’s sister organization, International Policy Network US Inc., is a non-profit started in 2001.

Funding
IPN is funded entirely by voluntary, charitable gifts from foundations, individuals and businesses. IPN does not receive any funding from governments or political parties, and it does no contract work. IPN develops and implements a research and advocacy agenda that encompasses not one or a few, but many public policy issues.

IPN has received grants totaling hundreds of thousands of pounds from the multinational energy company ExxonMobil, although it has not received money from the energy sector for some years.

Programs
IPN undertakes ongoing work on public policy in the areas of health, environment, economic development, trade, creativity and innovation.

The Freedom to Trade Campaign is run in collaboration with the Atlas Global Initiative. The campaign joins 73 think tanks in 48 countries to support free trade and oppose protectionism.

IPN’s Bastiat Prize for Journalism was founded in 2002. The prize recognises and rewards journalists and commentators who support the free society. This year, IPN will award the first Bastiat Prize for Online Journalism.

Links to other organisations

 * The Institute of Economic Affairs
 * Atlas Economic Research Foundation
 * CriticalOpinion.org
 * Electronic Journal of Sustainable Development

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 US in 1981, and from this point the IIER traded as Atlas Foundation UK. The organisation underwent a further rebranding in 2001, when it changed its name to IPN. In the US, the Atlas Foundation also provides training and funding to start libertarian think tanks. Fisher founded the influential Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), a classical liberal think tank based in London. The founding director of IPN, Julian Morris, was previously director of the IEA's Environment and Technology Programme.

Past notable trustees/directors

 * John Blundell

Past notable staff

 * Julian Morris, executive director
 * Roger Bate, director (left in 2003)

Some of IPN's partners

 * Institute of Public Policy Analysis, Nigeria
 * Inter Region Economic Network, Kenya
 * Free Market Foundation, South Africa
 * Africa Resource Bank
 * Action Research Community Health, India
 * Institute of Public Affairs, Australia
 * Making Our Economy Right, Bangladesh
 * Association for Liberal Thinking (Liberal Düşünce Topluluğu), Turkey
 * Timbro, Sweden
 * Liberty Institute, India
 * Centre for Civil Society, India
 * Institute of Economic Affairs
 * Montreal Economic Institute
 * Centro de Divulgacion del Conocimiento Economico, Venezuela
 * Libertad y Desarrollo, Chile
 * Fundacion Libertad Democracia y Desarrollo, Bolivia
 * Instituto de Libre Empresa, Peru
 * The Lion Rock Institute, Hong Kong
 * Instituto Liberdade, Brazil