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Alliance for Responsible Citizenship

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The Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC) is an international centre-right organisation, associated with psychologist and political commentator Jordan Peterson.[1][2][3] Its founding was announced in June 2023, with a London conference held in October of that year.[4][5] One Australian journalist identified the purpose of ARC as follows: "to replace a sense of division and drift within conservatism, and Western society at large, with a renewed cohesion and purpose".[6]

History

Baroness Stroud welcomes delegates to the first conference of the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship, London, 2023

In an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald, former Australian deputy prime minister John Anderson, who helped initiate the conference, said the group emerged as a response to a "civilisational" moment in which the Western world "is plagued by self-doubt and confusion" regarding its values and beliefs.[1] The "shaky ground" of depleted social institutions, such as the Christian Church, and the breakdown of cohesive social norms could be seen as part of this crisis.[1] The founders believe the West no longer has a binding narrative, as this has been "picked apart"; leaving it with a geostrategic vulnerability.[7] In the face of this crisis, Anderson characterised the goal of ARC was to "regroup, and put forward a positive agenda"[1] by providing a better narrative than one of inevitable doom and decline.

Others described ARC as being a response to problems in contemporary conservatism itself. That the global movement, at least in the English-speaking world, was "scrambling to define itself by what it opposes rather than what it believes". A report in The Telegraph saw the group as a corrective to the "chaos" and "excesses" in American conservatism during the rise of Donald Trump; the "muddle" of conservative beliefs in the UK; and the lack of a clear cause for conservatives in Australia.[4][6]

Beliefs

The organisation has no hard set of political statements.[6] Its organising ideas are reported to coalesce around responsible citizenship, motivated by "faith and hope" to ensure our "social fabric".[8] Founding documents focus on the strength of family structures, protecting "free exchange and good governance", reassessing energy and resources, and "environmental stewardship".[6][8][9] Overall, its concerns fall into five strands:[7][10]

Family, social fabric and population

Key figures in the group, such as Miriam Cates, identify the breakdown of the family as a cause of "economic stagnation".[11] The alliance emphasises family as the centre for bringing "flourishing and prosperity to their homes, communities, and beyond.[12] The fraying of "social fabric" is primarily addressed in the family context, which Peterson asserts, using conservative categories, will be "approximating the nuclear family" with "long-term, committed, stable heterosexual marriages sanctified by the community".[8]

Free enterprise and good governance

Andrew Hastie responds to Niall Ferguson, joined by Greg Sheridan and Rebecca Heinrichs at the 2023 conference

The group is highly critical of contemporary market economies, particularly woke business practices, crony capitalism and "the spread of ESG into boardrooms" all of which are said to overlook actual shareholder interests.[13][6] Some figures in the group, such as Sir Paul Marshall describe these phenomena as threatening "the end of the free market".[11] Other figures, such as Andrew Hastie have pointed to unbridled, globalised, free markets leading to the fragmentation of local communities.[6] As such the group intends to explore fresh ways that "open markets can be fostered to create prosperity for all, including those ‘left behind’ by globalisation, and the pursuit of "GDP at all costs".[13][9] While agreeing that “top-down solutions" have not worked, Hastie and others believe that there is a place for governance here as: “Government is not the problem. Bad government is the problem.”[6][13]

Affordable energy and environmental care

A concern for affordable energy, particularly amongst disadvantaged nations, was the key driver for the formation of the alliance.[10][14] In early conversations about the movement, Peterson stressed that climate change policies were making energy unaffordable which, in turn were threatening to cut food production and push people back into poverty.[10] The alliance "doesn't deny the importance of solving climate change" but rather "if you set back alleviation of hunger and poverty you'll end up with a whole chunk of people who don't care about climate and the environment".[5] Rejecting "fear-mongering" about climate change, Peterson wants to see the alliance to take up affordable energy as a conservative concern, saying there are "no excuses for putting forward energy policies that punish those who are absolutely poor".[5][7][15]

Promotion of Western civilisation

Jordan Peterson making an address to delegates, 30 October 2023
Ayaan Hirsi Ali leading a panel discussion at the first conference, John Anderson and Jordan Peterson on her right, Os Guinness on her left.

Re-asserting "the west's confidence in its own core values" has been a central concern since the alliance was announced"[5] In her remarks at the first conference, Ayaan Hirsi Ali suggested that the crisis of confidence comes from the disconnection of democracies from their founding stories and values, that “Western civilisation is like a cut flower – and cut flowers die.”[16] Baroness Stroud, as CEO of the group, had previously said this weakness in the West's thinking creates its own “geostrategic threat".[7] Organisers such as Anderson, have argued that all civilisations need a public ethic that encourages its citizens in "living virtuous lives".[17] Similarly, Peterson wants to see the group promote the historic, Western virtues of "courage, responsibility and strength, with Stroud emphasising the values of kindness, truth, gentleness, respect and goodness.[6] Key Western concepts, such as freedom are being explored by the group; setting aside its conception “freedom from”, to make your own choices – therein lay hedonistic individualism. Rather, it was “freedom to” – to take responsibility for rebuilding family, community and nation from the ground up.[6] Likewise the Postmodern conception of truth being "relative or personal" is reported to be widely rejected by the group.[6] Instead, Stroud wants to advance the proposition that, "We possess the knowledge that truth does exist and can be found."[6]

Positive geopolitics

While primarily interested in social and cultural issues, the group has been seen as providing an alternative to the World Economic Forum.[9][10] On global matters, the group says they "do not believe that humanity is necessarily and inevitably teetering on the brink of apocalyptic disaster".[5] One environmental journalist at The Guardian has characterised the group as not "worrying much at all about the climate crisis".[2] The founders say they are challenging "the declinist vision of the world" which is currently marked by a sense of "tense, permanent crisis".[11][9] Instead, in the words of Mike Lee, the ARC is "striving to create" a "positive future filled with hope and optimism".[9] They locate this optimism in a traditional view of humanity, that "men and women of faith and decisiveness, made in the image of God, can arrange their affairs with care and attention so that abundance and opportunity could be available for all."[5] With that outlook, the organization is looking at ways to balance global development, environmental stewardship and human flourishing.[9]

Organisation

Company records in the UK show ARC has two shareholders – the Dubai-based investment management group Legatum Ventures and the British investor and Brexiter Sir Paul Marshall.[5] The published advisory board members included the following:[12][1][18][19]

Conference

Kevin McCarthy addresses the conference, 2023

The group's first conference was held in Greenwich, London, 30th October – 1 November 2023.[19] The platform featured 100 speakers, with delegates from 71 nations said to number between 1,000 and 1,500.[4][6][20] The journalist Fraser Nelson described it as one of the "largest gatherings of the global centre Right in recent British history".[4]

Among the speakers were Kevin McCarthy, former speaker of the US House of Representatives, John Anderson, former Deputy Prime Minister of Australia, Fraser Nelson, editor of The Spectator, and former Dutch politician and writer Ayaan Hirsi Ali.[13] The English author and social critic Os Guinness featured on a panel discussion with Jordan Peterson, Ayaan Hirsi Ali and John Anderson.[21]

An evening event held at the O2 Arena attracted a crowd near to its capacity of 20,000.[22][23] Reviewed as "high-brow thought and unscripted conversation" it was headlined by Jordan Peterson, with several authors and commentators, such as Douglas Murray, Ben Shapiro, Bjørn Lomborg and Jonathan Pageau.[24][25] Event themes included the rejection of resentment, the problem of suffering, the pursuit of the common good, and the subsequent discovery of meaning.[25][24]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Bourke, Latika; Baker, Jordan (29 October 2023). "Olympics of centre-right thought? Heavyweights to debate future of conservatism in the age of Trump". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
  2. ^ a b Readfearn, Graham (8 November 2023). "What does a Jordan Peterson conference say about the future of climate change? Apparently we're headed towards 'human flourishing'". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 November 2023.
  3. ^ Daley, Paul (16 June 2023). "Howard and Abbott seek the meaning of life. What if our true purpose is … saving the planet". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 11 November 2023.
  4. ^ a b c d Nelson, Fraser (26 October 2023). "Conservatism is in crisis because the Tories no longer have a faith to live by". The Telegraph. London. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Readfearn, Graham; Karp, Paul (12 June 2023). "Tony Abbott and John Howard join Jordan Peterson-led group looking at 'meaning of life'". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Hans van Leeuwen (30 October 2023). "Why leading Liberals have descended on London this week". Australian Financial Review. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
  7. ^ a b c d Scott, Geraldine (31 October 2023). "Thinkers on the right meet 'to bring society together'". The Times. Retrieved 31 October 2023.
  8. ^ a b c Mamamia Team (13 June 2023). "John Howard and Tony Abbott joined a group co-founded by Jordan Peterson and we have... questions". Mamamia. Retrieved 31 October 2023.
  9. ^ a b c d e f "Mike Lee is part of a new international organization founded by Jordan Peterson". Deseret News. 18 March 2023. Retrieved 31 October 2023.
  10. ^ a b c d Sheridan, Greg (27 October 2023). "Australians swarm London in effort to replace Davos man with conservative citizen". The Australian.
  11. ^ a b c Cooke, Millie (31 October 2023). "Sir Paul Marshall hits out at 'woke capitalism' as he warns of 'the end of the free market'". MSN. Retrieved 31 October 2023.
  12. ^ a b Tomasky, Michael (17 May 2023). "Jim Jordan and Wisconsin Republicans Know the Law—They Just Don't Care". The New Republic. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
  13. ^ a b c d "Senior Tories appear alongside Jordan Peterson at major conference". The National. Scotland. 30 October 2023. Retrieved 31 October 2023.
  14. ^ Straub, Steve (30 October 2023). "Speaker Johnson Celebrates 'Judeo-Christian Tradition' and 'Classical Liberal' Values in First International Speech". The Federalist Papers. Retrieved 31 October 2023.
  15. ^ Lomborg, Bjorn; Peterson, Jordan B. (6 September 2023). "Bjorn Lomborg and Jordan Peterson: Let's make the world better and stop the fear-mongering". The Orange County Register. Retrieved 31 October 2023.
  16. ^ "The right is out of love with capitalism". Australian Financial Review. 2 November 2023. Retrieved 14 November 2023.
  17. ^ Anderson, John. "As the West loses faith in itself,we must offer values, hope". The Australian.
  18. ^ "Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC)". DeSmog. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
  19. ^ a b Earle, Samuel (28 October 2023). "Loud and uncowed: how UnHerd owner Paul Marshall became Britain's newest media mogul". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
  20. ^ Creighton, Adam (1 November 2023). "ARC conference, London: 'The developed world must unite against the new axis of evil'". The Australian.
  21. ^ Sebastian Milbank (31 October 2023). "I went to anti-woke Davos". The Critic. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
  22. ^ "David Quinn: Jordan Peterson's message of personal responsibility serves society well". Irish Independent. 5 November 2023. Retrieved 5 November 2023.
  23. ^ Marriott, James (6 November 2023). "My long night with Jordan Peterson — and his superfans". The Times.
  24. ^ a b Brierley, Justin (3 November 2023). "I saw Jordan Peterson at the O2 last night. He's asking all the right questions". Premier Christianity. Retrieved 5 November 2023.
  25. ^ a b Simpson, George (3 November 2023). "Jordan Peterson ARC O2 review – A call to selflessness in the meaning crisis". Daily Express. Retrieved 5 November 2023.
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