The Edmund Burke Foundation (''Edmund Burke Stichting'') is a

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

group based in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...

, the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

History

The Edmund Burke Foundation was founded in 2000 by a group of young

s, including professor

Andreas Kinneging Andreas Antonius Maria Kinneging (born 26 February 1962 in Eindhoven) is Professor of Legal Philosophy at the University of Leiden, and a conservative philosopher in the Netherlands. Background Kinneging was raised in a Catholic family in the Du ...

and journalist

Bart Jan Spruyt Dr. Bastian Jan "Bart Jan" Spruyt (born 29 January 1964, in Ridderkerk) is a Dutch historian, journalist and conservative writer. Academic background Spruyt grew up in Rotterdam, and studied history, theology and law at the Utrecht University and L ...

, dissatisfied with the consensus of Dutch politics, the level of public debate and what they believe is the dangerous drift of philosophy and culture in the Netherlands. It is named after the 18th-century conservative philosopher

Edmund Burke Edmund Burke (; 12 January NS.html"_;"title="New_Style.html"_;"title="/nowiki>New_Style">NS">New_Style.html"_;"title="/nowiki>New_Style">NS/nowiki>_1729_–_9_July_1797)_was_an_NS.html"_;"title="New_Style.html"_;"title="/nowiki>New_Style">N ...

. From 2000 to 2005, the Foundation was active as both a think tank and an educational group. In that time, the foundation took positions that are both fiscally and socially conservative. It organized an annual summer school for undergraduate students, conferences, seminars and lectures on topics such as the

multicultural The term multiculturalism has a range of meanings within the contexts of sociology, political philosophy, and colloquial use. In sociology and in everyday usage, it is a synonym for " ethnic pluralism", with the two terms often used interchang ...

society, education, health care, foreign policy and defense. Conservatives associated with the Foundation were, for example, in favor of health care privatization and tax cuts. The Foundation has links with conservative think tanks in the U.S., including

The Heritage Foundation The Heritage Foundation (abbreviated to Heritage) is an American conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C. that is primarily geared toward public policy. The foundation took a leading role in the conservative movement during the presiden ...

and the

American Enterprise Institute The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, known simply as the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), is a center-right Washington, D.C.–based think tank that researches government, politics, economics, and social welfare. A ...

. Speakers at the foundation's events included

Roger Scruton Sir Roger Vernon Scruton (; 27 February 194412 January 2020) was an English philosopher and writer who specialised in aesthetics and political philosophy, particularly in the furtherance of traditionalist conservative views. Editor from 1982 ...

, the Burke scholar Peter Stanlis, Dutch writer

Leon de Winter Leon de Winter (born 24 February 1954) is a Dutch writer and columnist. Early life Leon de Winter was born on 24 February 1954 in Den Bosch, in the southern Netherlands. He grew up in a Jewish orthodox family and attended City Grammar Schoo ...

, Islam-expert

Reuel Marc Gerecht Reuel Marc Gerecht is an American writer and political analyst focused on the Middle East. He is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, focusing primarily on the Middle East, Islamic militancy, counterterrorism, and intell ...

Frits Bolkestein Frederik "Frits" Bolkestein (; born 4 April 1933) is a retired Dutch politician and businessman who served as Leader of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) from 1990 to 1998 and European Commissioner for Internal Market from 199 ...

and

Onno Ruding Herman Onno Christiaan Rudolf "Onno" Ruding (born 15 August 1939) is a retired Dutch politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party and businessman. Ruding worked as student researcher at the Erasmus University Rotterdam from June ...

, former finance minister of The Netherlands. In the summer of 2005, the Board of the Foundation decided to focus its activities more exclusively on its educational, cultural and philosophical programs, taking the

Intercollegiate Studies Institute The Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) is a nonprofit educational organization that promotes conservative thought on college campuses. It was founded in 1953 by Frank Chodorov with William F. Buckley Jr. as its first president. It sponsor ...

explicitly as a role model. Consequently,

stepped back as full-time managing director of the think tank to join the political party of

Geert Wilders Geert Wilders (; born 6 September 1963) is a Dutch politician who has led the Party for Freedom (''Partij voor de Vrijheid'' – PVV) since he founded it in 2006. He is also the party's leader in the House of Representatives (''Tweede Kamer'' ...

, but remained a member of the governing Board of the Foundation. Several former employees then spun off the think-tank activities into a new group called the European Independent Institute.

Media activities

In its think tank period, the Burke Foundation regularly published reports and studies on a variety of topics, including the Dutch health care sector,

privatization Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...

, wasteful government spending and conservative philosophy and thought. Members of the Burke Foundation published articles and op-eds in numerous newspapers, and many newspapers devoted substantial attention to the activities of the Foundation. Those newspapers include De Telegraaf, de Volkskrant, NRC Handelsblad,

Het Parool ''Het Parool'' () is an Amsterdam-based daily newspaper. It was first published on 10 February 1941 as a resistance paper during the German occupation of the Netherlands (1940–1945). In English, its name means ''The Password'' or ''The Motto' ...

Trouw ''Trouw'' (; ) is a Dutch daily newspaper appearing in compact size. It was founded in 1943 as an orthodox Protestant underground newspaper during World War II. Since 2009, it has been owned by DPG Media (known as De Persgroep until 2019). ''T ...

Nederlands Dagblad ''Nederlands Dagblad'' (; "Dutch Daily") is a Dutch daily newspaper, available nationwide, with a daily circulation of 23,800 issues (in 2020). History The paper was founded in 1944 as a semi- resistance paper during World War II called ''Refor ...

, and weekly magazines such as

HP/De Tijd ''HP/De Tijd'' is a Dutch language monthly opinion magazine published by the Audax Groep. Its editorial offices are in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Alongside ''De Groene Amsterdammer'', ''Vrij Nederland'' and ''Elsevier'', it is one of the most influe ...

Elsevier Elsevier () is a Dutch academic publishing company specializing in scientific, technical, and medical content. Its products include journals such as '' The Lancet'', ''Cell'', the ScienceDirect collection of electronic journals, '' Trends'', ...

, and

De Groene Amsterdammer ''De Groene Amsterdammer'' is an independent Dutch weekly news magazine published in Amsterdam and distributed throughout the Netherlands. It is conventionally considered to be one of the four major weeklies, alongside '' HP/De Tijd'', ''Vrij Nede ...

. Members of the Burke Foundation also appeared regularly on TV and Radio programs, including NOVA, Den Haag Vandaag, TweeVandaag, and the

Radio 1 Radio 1 or Radio One most commonly refers to: *BBC Radio 1, a music radio station from the BBC ** BBC Radio 1Xtra, a digital radio station broadcasting black music *CBC Radio One, a talk radio station operated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporatio ...

News program.

Funding

The Foundation received substantial support during its think-tank period from a variety of sources, including small private donors, Dutch entrepreneurs, and various multinational corporations, such as

Pfizer Pfizer Inc. ( ) is an American multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology corporation headquartered on 42nd Street in Manhattan, New York City. The company was established in 1849 in New York by two German entrepreneurs, Charles Pfizer ...

and

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washin ...

References

External links

* (in Dutch) {{DEFAULTSORT:Edmund Burke Foundation 2000 establishments in the Netherlands Think tanks established in 2000 Think tanks based in the Netherlands Political and economic think tanks based in the European Union Organisations based in The Hague Conservatism in the Netherlands Political and economic research foundations Political organisations based in the Netherlands Edmund Burke