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Henry Jackson Society

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The Henry Jackson Society
Formation11 March 2005; 19 years ago (2005-03-11)
TypeForeign policy
HeadquartersMillbank Tower, London
Executive Director
Alan Mendoza
Associate Director
Douglas Murray
Staff (2014)
17
Volunteers (2014)
60
WebsiteHenryJacksonSociety.org

The Henry Jackson Society is a right-wing neo-conservative[1][2][3][4] British think tank.[5][6][7][8] It is named after the American politician Henry M. Jackson, the late Democratic Senator and anticommunist defence hawk.[9]

History and political aims

The society was founded on 11 March 2005 by academics and students at Cambridge (many of whom were affiliated with the Centre for International Studies), including Brendan Simms, Alan Mendoza, Gideon Mailer, James Rogers and Matthew Jamison.[10] It organizes meetings with speakers in the House of Commons. The society claims that it advocates an interventionist foreign-policy that promotes human rights and reduces suffering, by both non-military and military methods, when appropriate.

In 2006, the society worked to raise the profile of the Ahwazi Arabs of Iran, who it claims are currently being oppressed by the Iranian government.[11]

After originating within the University of Cambridge, the organisation is now based in London. In April 2011 the entire staff of another London think-tank, the Centre for Social Cohesion (which has since been dissolved), joined the Henry Jackson Society.[12]

The organization is a registered charity in England and Wales and earns financial backing from private donations and grant-making organisations which support its work.[13] The income of the society increased significantly from 2009 to 2014, from £98,000 to £1.6 million per year.[13][14]

In 2009 the society became the secretariat of two all-party parliamentary groups (APPGs), for Transatlantic and International Security, chaired by Gisela Stuart, and for Homeland Security, chaired by Bernard Jenkin. A transparency requirement upon non-profit organisations acting as secretariat at that time was that they must reveal, on request, any corporate donors who gave £5,000 or more to the organisation over the past year or cease acting as a secretariat organisation. In 2014, following a query, the society refused to disclose this information and resigned its position as secretariat of the APPGs concerned in order to comply with the Rules. The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, Kathryn Hudson, upheld a complaint against these APPGs on the grounds data had not been provided, but noted the society had already resigned its position and that the consequence of this non-provision therefore "appears to have taken effect" as the Rules intended.[14][15][16] The case was therefore closed with no further action taken and the APPGs themselves dissolved with the dissolution of Parliament in March 2015. The APPG Rules were subsequently changed in March 2015 so that only those non-profit organisations providing services to APPGs of more than £12,500 in value needed to declare their corporate donors.[17]

Criticism

The think tank has been described as right-wing and neoconservative.[1][3] During in its early years, the society called for maintaining "a strong military… armed with expeditionary capabilities with a global reach".[1]

In 2014, Dr Nafeez, an executive director of the Institute for Policy Research & Development stated that the Henry Jackson Society courts corporate, political power to advance a distinctly illiberal oil and gas agenda in Mideast.[2][18][19]

In 2014, Breitbart's managing editor Raheem Kassam was an Associate Fellow at the Henry Jackson Society (HJS), where he headed up the Student rights campaign, the HJS-funded and based project which was widely criticised as anti-Muslim and right-wing.[1]

According to the Huffington Post, some key Henry Jackson Society personnel, including associate director Douglas Murray, have made many statements that have led to accusations of anti-Muslim bigotry.[20] Douglas Murray, the associate director of HJS, is the author of "Neoconservatism: Why We Need It" book and has been described as a neoconservative.[21]

Marko Attila Hoare, a former senior member of the Henry Jackson Society, left the organisation in 2012 because of its "anti-Muslim" and "anti-immigration" views.[22]

In 2015, the British Spinwatch group, SNP, Greens and human rights lawyer Niall McCluskey urged Labour leader Jim Murphy to sever his links with the Henry Jackson Society, which they accused of pushing an anti-Muslim agenda.[23]

Statement of principles

Statement of its principles, according to the Henry Jackson Society itself:[24]

  1. Believes that modern liberal democracies set an example to which the rest of the world should aspire.
  2. Supports a ‘forward strategy’ – involving diplomatic, economic, cultural, and/or political means—to assist those countries that are not yet liberal and democratic to become so.
  3. Supports the maintenance of a strong military, by the United States, the countries of the European Union and other democratic powers, armed with expeditionary capabilities with a global reach, that can protect our homelands from strategic threats, forestall terrorist attacks, and prevent genocide or massive ethnic cleansing.
  4. Supports the necessary furtherance of European military modernisation and integration under British leadership, preferably within NATO.
  5. Stresses the importance of unity between the world’s great democracies, represented by institutions such as NATO, the European Union and the OECD, amongst many others.
  6. Believes that only modern liberal democratic states are truly legitimate, and that the political or human rights pronouncements of any international or regional organisation which admits undemocratic states lack the legitimacy to which they would be entitled if all their members were democracies.
  7. Gives two cheers for capitalism. There are limits to the market, which needs to serve the Democratic Community and should be reconciled to the environment.
  8. Accepts that we have to set priorities and that sometimes we have to compromise, but insists that we should never lose sight of our fundamental values. This means that alliances with repressive regimes can only be temporary. It also means a strong commitment to individual and civil liberties in democratic states, even and especially when we are under attack.

The society's statement of principles have been changed from those first signed by supporters in Cambridge on 11 March 2005, to de-emphasise military methods and to more recognise the legitimacy of international organisations. The original versions were:[25]

  1. Supports a ‘forward strategy’ to assist those countries that are not yet liberal and democratic to become so. This would involve the full spectrum of ‘carrot’ capacities, be they diplomatic, economic, cultural or political, but also, when necessary, those ‘sticks’ of the military domain.
  2. Supports the maintenance of a strong military, by the United States, the countries of the European Union and other democratic powers, armed with expeditionary capabilities with a global reach.
  3. Believes that only modern liberal democratic states are truly legitimate, and that any international organisation which admits undemocratic states on an equal basis is fundamentally flawed.

Initial signatories

The initial signatories of the statement of principles included:[25]

International patrons included Richard Perle, William Kristol, former CIA Director R. James Woolsey Jr., and former President of Lithuania Vytautas Landsbergis.[26]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d Ahmed, Nafeez (7 May 2014). "Think tank behind Tory foreign policy promotes Arab world fossil fuel hegemony". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 November 2016.
  2. ^ a b Clark, David (24 November 2005). "The neoconservative temptation beckoning Britain's bitter liberals". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 December 2012.
  3. ^ a b "Scottish Labour leader urged to cut links with right-wing think tank". HeraldScotland. Retrieved 24 November 2016.
  4. ^ "Henry Jackson Society - Right Web - Institute for Policy Studies". Right Web - Institute for Policy Studies. Retrieved 24 November 2016.
  5. ^ "The Henry Jackson Society and the Degeneration of British Neo-conservatism". Middle East Monitor. 11 June 2015. Retrieved 24 November 2016.
  6. ^ "THE HENRY JACKSON SOCIETY AND THE DEGENERATION OF BRITISH NEOCONSERVATISM: LIBERAL INTERVENTIONISM, ISLAMOPHOBIA AND THE 'WAR ON TERROR'" (PDF). Retrieved 24 November 2016. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  7. ^ "Henry Jackson Society | Advisory Council". henryjacksonsociety.org. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  8. ^ https://www.rt.com/op-edge/367807-henry-jackson-uk-mccarthyism/. Retrieved 24 November 2016. {{cite news}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  9. ^ Critchlow, Donald T. (2011). "Rethinking American Conservatism: Toward a New Narrative". The Journal of American History. 98 (3). Oxford Journals: 752–755. doi:10.1093/jahist/jar390. Retrieved 6 June 2016.
  10. ^ "The Henry Jackson Society Is Now Launched!". Henry Jackson Society. 11 March 2005. Archived from the original on 30 April 2006.
  11. ^ "UNPO: Ahwazi: Iran Slammed for 'Barbarian' Treatment of Ahwazi Arabs". unpo.org. Retrieved 4 April 2016.
  12. ^ Isaby, Jonathan. "Douglas Murray and staff from the Centre for Social Cohesion join the Henry Jackson Society". Conservative Home. Retrieved 31 January 2013.
  13. ^ a b "The Henry Jackson Society, registered charity no. 1140489". Charity Commission for England and Wales.
  14. ^ a b Ramesh, Randeep (30 December 2014). "Rightwing thinktank pulls funds for Commons groups after disclosure row". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 May 2015.
  15. ^ The Transatlantic and International Security APG: Report (PDF). Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards (Report). UK Parliament. 8 December 2014. Retrieved 30 May 2015.
  16. ^ The Homeland Security APG: Report (PDF). Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards (Report). UK Parliament. 8 December 2014. Retrieved 30 May 2015.
  17. ^ Guide to the Rules on APGs (PDF) (Report). UK Parliament. March 2015. Retrieved 17 June 2015.
  18. ^ "EXPOSED: Quilliam leadership directly involved with neocon Douglas Murray's Henry Jackson Society". loonwatch.com. 20 December 2013. Retrieved 24 November 2016.
  19. ^ Taylor, Ros (22 November 2005). "Inside the hawks' nest". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 December 2012.
  20. ^ "Ironically Named 'Student Rights' Group Exposed by Actual Students". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 24 November 2016.
  21. ^ "Douglas Murray, the EDL, Dodgy Videos and Me". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 24 November 2016.
  22. ^ "Labour should cut its ties with the illiberal Henry Jackson Society". The Guardian. 20 May 2013. Retrieved 24 November 2016.
  23. ^ "Scottish Labour leader urged to cut links with right-wing think tank". HeraldScotland. Retrieved 24 November 2016.
  24. ^ "Statement of Principles". Henry Jackson Society. Retrieved 16 April 2013.
  25. ^ a b "Statement of Principles". Henry Jackson Society. 11 March 2005. Archived from the original on 30 April 2006. Retrieved 30 April 2006.
  26. ^ "International Patrons of The Henry Jackson Society". Henry Jackson Society. Archived from the original on 30 April 2006.
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