Heritage’s founder learned IEA’s research-driven advocacy model in London
Evidence
Upon graduating from Wharton, Feulner decided to continue his studies as a nondegree student at the London School of Economics. Among the professors that Feulner would later name as influences on him during this period were Peter Bauer, whose seminars introduced him to new ideas regarding foreign aid for developing countries, “about which I had previously gotten the conventional wisdom from ‘experts’ like Walt Rostow” (Feulner quoted in Edwards 1997, 188). While studying at the LSE, Feulner also worked part-time at the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), the London-based think tank that was closely associated with the policies pursued by Margaret Thatcher as prime minister. The experience of working at the IEA reportedly taught Feulner about the power of ideas, supported by research, to shape political debates and influence public policy. — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 1805
Categorization
- XREF: Shows the transmission mechanism: British IEA model (Thatcher-era) became the template Feulner applied in Washington — a causal chain in the neoliberal network’s influence. — connects to: The IEA’s message reached welfare-state professions as early as 1968 — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 421; Heritage Foundation pioneered the activist advocacy think tank model — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 1803; Hayek believed the IEA method alone could win intellectuals worldwide — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 1942
- QUESTION: Peter Bauer’s anti-foreign-aid seminars directly contradicting Rostow’s modernization theory — worth digging into how this became canonical neoliberal anti-aid doctrine.
Broader Connections
- Hayek believed the IEA method alone could win intellectuals worldwide
#expands(0.82) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 1942