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How can big government be turned back? How can we ensure future generations enjoy the blessings of liberty? This book assembles answers being put into practice by Freedom Champions from more than two dozen countries. Each one has a story to tell of intelligence, strategy and determination in the battle for liberty. Mostly working behind the scenes, these Freedom Champions accomplish remarkable things with modest means, and often under difficult circumstances. They are connected by a shared vision of the free society and through the Atlas Network, which published these 30 inspiring, educational case studies on the occasion of Atlas s 30th Anniversary. The book includes an introduction and epilogue by Atlas CEO Brad Lips. Nobel Prize winner Mario Vargas Llosa praised the book, Anyone who desires the advance of liberty should understand the impact of the Atlas network of think tanks. Led by Freedom Champions who keep their eyes locked on the long-term battle against statism of all stripes these principled think tanks are playing a vital role in creating a better future.

What Is a Think Tank?

John C. Goodman

National Center for Policy Analysis (United States)

What is a think tank? What do think tanks do? Why are they important? These questions are more pertinent than ever in today’s public
policy environment.
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ORIGIN OF THE IDEA OF A THINK TANK
Ideas come from think tanks. But where did the idea of a think tank come from? It may well have come from Thomas Clarkson, an Englishman who co-founded the Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade in 1787. By meticulously describing the condition of the slave trade, supplying diagrams of slave ships and combining factual inquiry with moral argument, Clarkson engaged in a war of ideas.
Think tanks figured prominently in the 20th century. The Manhattan Project was a very focused think tank of sorts. The RAND Corporation, the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute are other organizations that left their mark. Of special interest are organizations that sprang up in the latter part of the 20th century, often for the explicit purpose of defeating collectivism, much as Clarkson sought to end slavery. Among these were the Hoover Institution, The Heritage Foundation, the American Enterprise Institute and the Cato Institute.
No single person was more important in encouraging the spread of think thanks than Sir Antony Fisher. A Royal Air Force pilot in World War II who went on to become successful in business, Fisher sought advice from Nobel laureate Friedrich Hayek on how to stop the spread of collectivism and encourage a resurgence of 19th- century classical liberal ideas. Don’t go into politics, Hayek advised. Focus instead on the world of ideas.
Fisher started the Institute of Economic Affairs in London, which later became Margaret Thatcher’s think tank. Following that success, he helped start the Fraser Institute in Canada, the Institute for Liberty and Democracy in Peru, and the Manhattan Institute as well as the National Center for Policy Analysis in the United States. His Atlas Economic Research Foundation supplied modest seed money for these efforts and convened an annual think tank conference. By the time he died, Fisher had helped start more than three dozen think tanks around the world.

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