John Blundell 
Waging the War of Ideas 

This paper discusses how wars of ideas can be waged, using the author’s extensive experience, both as director general of the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) and at other classical liberal think tanks. John Blundell begins his stimulating collection of published essays, reviews and introductions by showing how the founders of the IEA successfully fought the conventional planning wisdom of the 1960s and 1970s, providing the ideas which, by the 1980s and 1990s, had brought about increased freedom and a revival in the use of markets. He draws lessons from those days and then surveys the contemporary scene, showing how the anti-liberal ideas emerging now are different from those which prevailed in the early years of the IEA. As well as giving a valuable view of the IEAs development in the past, these essays also offer advice on how to continue winning in the new circumstances of the present. Waging the War of Ideas has been constantly in demand since it was first published in 2001. This new and expanded edition contains three new chapters and is introduced by Professor Walter Williams.

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John Blundell was educated at King’s School, Macclesfield, and at the London School of Economics. He headed the Press, Research and Parliamentary Liaison Office at the Federation of Small Businesses from 1977 to 1982, and was a Lambeth Borough councillor from 1978 to 1982. From 1982 to 1993 he lived in the USA where he was, inter alia, president of the Institute for Humane Studies (1988–91); president of the Atlas Economic Research Foundation (1987–91); president of the board of the Congressional Schools of Virginia (1988–92); and president of the Charles G. Koch and Claude R. Lambe Charitable Foundations (1991–2). He assumed his duties as Director General of the Institute of Economic Affairs on 1 January 1993 and stepped down in 2009 to pursue lecturing and writing opportunities in the USA. He also served as co-founder and chairman, from 1993 to 1997, of the Institute for Children, Boston, MA; founder director (1991–3), Institute for Justice, Washington, DC; international trustee (1988–93), The Fraser Institute, Vancouver, BC; and founder trustee of Buckeye Institute, Dayton, OH. He was a director of Fairbridge and of the International Policy Network and chairman of the Institute Development and Relations Committee of the board of Atlas Economic Research Foundation (USA). He was also a board member of the Institute for Humane Studies at George Mason University, Fairfax, VA; of the Institute of Economic Studies (Europe) in Paris, France; and of the Mont Pélerin Society.