CEPOS
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Danish Centre for Political Studies, also known as CEPOS, is an independent classical liberal/free-market conservative think-tank in Denmark.
Inspired by institutions such as American Enterprise Institute, Heritage Foundation, Adam Smith Institute, Institute of Economic Affairs etc., CEPOS was founded on March 11, 2004 by a number of high-profile representatives of Danish academia, business, media and the arts including fmr. Conservative Defence Minister, Chamberlain at Her Majesty’s Court and Master of the Royal Hunt, Bernt Johan Collet who became Chairman of the Board.
Other prominent co-founders include former Prime Minister Poul Schlüter, former Minister of Foreign Affairs Uffe Ellemann-Jensen, university professors Nicolai Juul Foss, Jesper Lau Hansen, Bent Jensen and Peter Kurrild-Klitgaard as well as well-known journalists Bent Blüdnikow and Samuel Rachlin and cultural personalities such as Bent Fabricius-Bjerre, Michael Laudrup and Poul Bundgaard. Martin Ågerup was hired in 2005 as the think-tank's CEO.
During the summer of 2004, the new Board managed to bring in the necessary grants and contributions from foundations, corporations, and individual sponsors. At a meeting on October 2, 2004, the founders confirmed their decision to establish the think-tank, CEPOS. The official opening of CEPOS took place on March 10, 2005 at Hotel D'Angleterre.
CEPOS is dedicated to preserving and strengthening the foundations of a free and prosperous society by supporting tax-cuts, limited government, private enterprise as well as vital cultural and political institutions. The research of CEPOS supports a civil society consisting of free and responsible individuals and fosters policies, institutions and culture supportive of free market economy, the rule of law, and a civil society consisting of free and responsible individuals.
CEPOS produces both academic research and policy analyses, aimed at both general political debate and more specifically at the political process. Inspired by the Heritage Foundation, CEPOS has employed bright, aggressive public policy analysts who produce comparatively shorter policy papers intended to pass what Heritage calls "the briefcase test" for busy politicians to read on the run, but lately CEPOS has also begun to focus on long-term research on issues such as immigration, education and human rights.
In 2006, CEPOS launched the CEPOS University, a privately financed course in free market thinking and the various theories behind the free market.
CEPOS is a three-time awardwinner of the Atlas Economic Research Foundation and John Templeton Foundation awards (2006 Templeton Freedom Award - Honorable Mention, 2007 Templeton Freedom Award Grant, 2007 Templeton Freedom Prize for Initiative in Public Relations, Second Place).
The think-tank is considered one of the leading voices in the Danish debate on taxation, regulation and welfare, as well as schools and education, and was described by a Danish business magazine in 2007 as being "in charge of the public debate" [1]
CEPOS is the Danish participant in the The Economic Freedom of the World Project as well as the International Property Rights Index.[1][2]
