| Independent Institute | |
|---|---|
| Founder(s) | David J. Theroux |
| Established | 1986 |
| Mission | to boldly advance peaceful, prosperous, and free societies grounded in a commitment to human worth and dignity |
| Focus | Public policy, libertarianism |
| President & CEO | David J. Theroux |
| Faculty | 10 |
| Adjunct faculty | 249 |
| Staff | 21 |
| Slogan | "Enlightening ideas for public policy" |
| Location | Washington, D.C. |
| Address |
100 Swan Way, Oakland, CA 94621-1428 1319 18th St., NW, Washington, DC, 20036-1802 |
| Website | Independent.org |
The Independent Institute is a non-partisan, scholarly think tank based in Oakland, California, whose "mission is to boldly advance peaceful, prosperous, and free societies, grounded in a commitment to human worth and dignity." Founded in 1986 by David J. Theroux [3], the Institute sponsors studies of major political, social, economic, legal, environmental and foreign policy issues. It has more than 140 research fellows. The Institute was originally established in San Francisco, and was re-located in 1989 to Oakland. In 2006 the Institute opened an office in Washington, D.C. The Institute is organized into seven centers that address a full range of public policy issues.
Contents |
The results of the Institute's work are published as books and other publications [4] and form the basis for numerous conferences [5] and media programs [6]. Books [7] are published by such publishers as Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, Farrar Straus & Giroux, Palgrave, University of Michigan Press, Stanford University Press, Ivan R. Dee, New York University Press, University Press of Kentucky, etc.
For fifteen years, the Institute has published a quarterly journal, The Independent Review, edited by the economist and historian, Robert Higgs. Devoted to the study of political economy and the critical analysis of government policy, the Independent Review is peer-reviewed and includes articles ranging across the fields of economics, political science, law, history, philosophy, and sociology.
Articles on the Independent Institute's findings are published in major newspapers, magazines and journals, and Institute fellows regularly appear on TV and radio programs in the U.S. and around the world. In addition, the Institute conducts numerous conference programs for scholars, business leaders, the media, policy makers and the general public. For example, the Institute's Independent Policy Forum [8] series of seminars has featured historians Joyce Appleby and Robert Conquest; economists Roger Noll, Lord Peter Bauer and Nobel Laureates Gary Becker and James M. Buchanan; legal scholars Alex Kozinski, Stephen Halbrook, David D. Friedman, Robert Cooter, Richard Epstein, David D. Cole, and Randy Barnett; foreign policy experts Lawrence Korb, Daniel Ellsberg, George Shultz, Michael Scheuer, and Gen. William Odom; criminologists Gary Kleck, Frank Zimring and James Q. Wilson; best-selling authors Gore Vidal, P. J. O'Rourke, George Gilder, Shelby Steele, and Michael Crichton; human rights leaders Harry Wu, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Desmond Tutu, and Elena Bonner; scientists Bruce Ames, John Christy, and Nobel Laureate Charles Townes; judges Vaughn Walker and James P. Gray; journalists Alexander Cockburn, John Stossel, former Wall Street Journal editor Robert L. Bartley, and Bill Kurtis; business leaders David Packard, John Templeton, Robert Galvin, William Bowes, Jr., and Walter B. Wriston; Nobel Laureate Czesław Miłosz; and many others.
Drawing upon its research and publications program in criminal justice, the Independent Institute has further organized a series of televised debates hosted by Harvard law professor and Emmy Award-winner, Arthur R. Miller. The program, Stopping Violent Crime: New Directions for Reduction and Prevention[9], was distributed on PBS-TV and featured former U.S. Attorney General Richard Thornburgh, Federal Judge David Sentelle, Police Foundation President Hubert Williams, criminologist Marvin Wolfgang, civil libertarian writer Wendy Kaminer, and others.
In 2006, having launched its office in Washington, the Institute expanded its media program, including a weekly column by Senior Fellow Álvaro Vargas Llosa through the Washington Post Writers Group, attracting a weekly readership of more than 5 million worldwide. Mr. Vargas Llosa is Senior Fellow with the Institute's Center on Global Prosperity [10], and the host of the 2009 4-part National Geographic documentary series on Latin America, Consequences. In addition, to follow up on earlier Institute Open Letters on health care, high technology, and other issues, the Independent Institute released its Open Letter on Immigration[11], signed by more than 500 economists, including five Nobel Laureates, and received endorsements in editorials in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal. The Open Letter on Immigration was a project of the Center on Entrepreneurial Innovation [12].
The Institute also operates a special program for students [13], including a competitive essay contest for college students that awards cash fellowships; Summer Seminars on Liberty, Economy and Society [14] for high school and college students; student internships [15]; and tuition assistance for disadvantaged families to send their children to private schools (Independent Scholarship Fund [1]).
The Institute has produced scholarly books and other studies [2] on free-market entrepreneurship and regulation, deregulation, taxation, privatization, and community development.
In the immediate aftermath of 9/11 in 2001, the Independent Institute launched a program of critical analysis of the "War on Terror". The Institute argued that targeted defensive measures would succeed and that U.S. preemptive, interventionist war and "nation-building" policies would not. In so doing, the Institute has organized numerous events featuring Gore Vidal, Lewis H. Lapham, Robert Higgs, Representative Ron Paul, James Bamford, Barton Bernstein, Thomas Gale Moore, Gareth Porter, Theresa Hitchens, Mark Danner, Joseph Cirincione, Christopher Scheer, and others. The Institute has consistently criticized the legacy of U.S. interventionism, corporate welfare, and abuse of civil liberties through its Center on Peace and Liberty [16]. For example, the Institute's book by Ivan Eland, Partitioning for Peace[3] proposes a decentralized, partition solution as a U.S. exit strategy from Iraq. In addition, its award-winning book, Twilight War: The Folly of U.S. Space Dominance, by Mike Moore (former Editor, The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists) has critiqued the weaponization of space, defending peaceful commercial development.[4]
The Institute has completed numerous publications on the value of market-based environmentalism to resolve the tragedy of the commons, including forestlands, water systems, climate change, air quality, energy, endangered species, toxic hazards, agriculture, food, etc. Notable books include Re-Thinking Green, Plowshares & Pork Barrels, A Poverty of Reason, Cutting Green Tape, Electric Choices, and Hot Talk, Cold Science.[5]
The Independent Institute is the recipient of numerous awards [17], including two Mencken Awards, seven Sir Antony Fisher International Memorial Awards, the Benjamin Franklin Award from the Independent Book Publishers Association, two IPPY Awards from Independent Publisher Magazine, and a 4M Highest Rating for Ethics in Social and Public Policy from the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University.
Other awards have included those to Senior Fellow Ivan Eland[18] who received the Medal of the Presidency of the Italian Republic in 2004, and Senior Fellow Alvaro Vargas Llosa[19] who was awarded the Freedom of Expression Award [20] from the Organization of Ibero-American Journalists in 2003, 2006 Annual Juan Bautista Alberdi Award from the Hispanic American Center for Economic Research, and Young Global Leader for 2007 from the World Economic Forum. Senior Fellow Bruce Benson [21] received the 2006 Adam Smith Award, Research Analyst Gabriel Gasave received the Freedom Award for Brave Defense of Liberty from the Fundacion Atlas, and Senior Fellow Robert Higgs[22] received the 1998 Templeton Honor Rolls Award on Education in a Free Society, 2006 Friedrich von Wieser Memorial Prize for Excellence in Economic Education, 2006 Thomas S. Szasz Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Cause of Civil Liberties, 2006 Lysander Spooner Award for Advancing the Literature of Liberty, and 2007 Gary G. Schlarbaum Prize for Lifetime Achievement in the Cause of Liberty.
In addition, the Institute's book by Robert Higgs, Depression, War, and Cold War, was selected by Choice Magazine as the 2007 Outstanding Academic Book and by Society Magazine as the Social Science Book of the Month. The Institute's book edited by Gabriel Roth, Street Smart, was designated by Planetizen as “Top 10” Book for 2007 in Urban Planning, Design, and Development Community, and Restoring Free Speech and Liberty on Campus, by Donald Downs, received the Peter Shaw Memorial Award for 2006.
In 2010 the Independent Institute won the Templeton Freedom Award in the category of Free Market Solutions to Poverty for publishing the book, Lessons from the Poor: Triumph of the Entrepreneurial Spirit.[6]
On its website the Institute states that it "receives no government funding. Instead, it draws its support from a diverse range of foundations, businesses and individuals, and the sale of its publications and other services." [23] The Independent Institute does not publish a list of its donors in keeping with its ascribing to the Donor’s Bill of Rights. [24]