The think thank DEMOS is described as "close to the Government" and as a
source of Third Way ideas. The book Life after Politics, edited by Geoff
Mulgan presents these ideas in a colection of short texts. Although all
DEMOS publications should be considered for a complete picture, I have no
reason to think it would differ form the one given here.
In total 242 titles are cited (many references are unclear or
duplicates). Of these 98% are from the US or the UK. 2 are French, 1
German, and 1 Italian (all by place of publication), and 1 id from a
classical author.
There are 124 references to government or NGO reports, 93 % are from the
US or the UK, most from the UK. 3 are international, 3 are EU reports, 1
is Australian, 1 from France, and one is in English but from a Catalonian
institute.
There are 86 journal articles or press reports cited. All are from the US
or UK. There are 4 references to TV or radio programmes, all from the UK.
Some of these works are translations, and many of the publishers are big
Anglophone Atlantic publishers with offices in New York and SE England.
Similarly, the exact nationality of the authors is not given, but 23 are
from the UK, 4 are from the US, Canada and Australia. One works in the
Netherlands. (One author, Zygmunt Baumann, is an immigrant. Only 3 are
women).
The general picture is the same as that for university-educated British
people and their institutions in general: an almost entirely anglophone,
Atlantic, cultural-political space. The selection of the authors for this
one volume is the responsibility of the editor, but since it refects
previous activities and interests of DEMOS it gives a general impression
of insularity and chauvinism. The cultural orientation is to the former
British white colonies, to the English-speaking world, and away from
Europe. I suspect this is also an acurate indication of the orientation
of the Blair government, but that cannot be inferred from its
think-tanks.
Paul Treanor
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|