Who we are

"To sum up, I say that Athens is the school of Greece, and the individual Athenian seems to have the power of adapting himself to the most varied forms of action with the utmost versatility and grace."

Pericles’ Funeral Speech to the Athenians, 431 bc.

Evolution, information, markets, and the poor...

1. Success requires adaptation to an uncertain world.

2. Adaptation requires response to information.

3. Information is best produced and acted upon by liberal markets (in which individual and property rights are protected by independent courts).

4. Liberal democracy is therefore the most effective mechanism for successful adaptation.

5. Empirical evidence conclusively shows that those states that pursue liberal markets are not only richer than state-controlled economies, but also deliver higher living standards for the world’s poorest people.

21st Century challenges...

We live in an age defined by:

first, scientific progress and revolutionary technological change which transforms the horizon of productive possibilities (eg. quantum mechanics), man’s capacity for destruction (eg. space-based lasers), and, increasingly, our understanding of, and capacity to alter, basic elements of human nature (eg. cognitive science, evolutionary biology, gene therapy, psychotropic drugs etc);

second, new forms of terrorism (particularly a willingness to cause mass casualties) and the rise of new Powers (China, India etc);

third, an increasing economic, demographic, technological, and cultural gap between Europe and America, with Europe’s economy and democratic culture being undermined by the euro, the EU, and the drive of elites to replace national democratic accountability with supranational government;

fourth, a profound paradox: the scientific and political change associated with the elevation of Reason since the Renaissance has seen the spread of liberal democracy (after its successful defence against various attacks), yet Reason also appears to undermine faith in itself and, therefore, undermine support for the values of liberal democracy. Philosophically, Nietzsche, Einstein’s Relativity, Gödel (not even arithmetic can be true and complete), quantum mechanics (“Schrödinger’s Cat” undermines faith in our ability to observe reality accurately) – all of these developments seem to breed an intelligentsia that cannot sustain confidence in liberal democracy, therefore there is a question mark over the long-term capacity of liberal democracy to survive the inevitable crises it will face.

Two futures for Britain...

Britain’s choice is "simple but not easy" - a choice between two futures:

1. "Ever closer union" in the EU, including economic, monetary, and political union, in the hope that the EU will provide peace and prosperity in this new Century. This is closely associated with faith in the UN as the epitome of morality and the only hope of peace.

2. A transformation of our relationship with the EU, accompanied by domestic reform (including economic liberalisation, education reform, scientific exploration, and democratic renaissance). This would involve Britain taking back powers over trade, employment, and civil rights from the EU. It would attempt the transformation of the EU into an organisation capable of containing both (a) those committed to the euro and political union, and (b) those who reject the euro and the Constitution, and prefer international co-operation to supra-national government. Rejecting the idea that the EU is the answer to our problems would also require the creation of new international trade and defence alliances better able to deal with 21st Century challenges. Britain and America should seek to isolate those who wish to pursue the old agenda of integration.

Pursuing further integration in the EU will not bring peace and prosperity, nor will it bring "influence" and liberalisation (the opposite of integration). The current path of the EU represents a step backward, and will bring economic failure, military impotence, cultural decline, democratic crisis, and a less influential Britain.

We should pursue EU transformation, in the belief that this strategy is the best chance of catalysing EU reform, but also in the belief that taking back powers from the EU is the optimum strategy for Britain whether or not we can persuade enough of the EU to reform. A Britain that pursues a more liberal economy and an educational and democratic renaissance, and which pursues new trade and defence alliances around the world, will be more prosperous, more secure, and a better example to Europe.

The New Frontiers Foundation is a non-party and not-for-profit institution dedicated to the formulation and promotion of this vision. We will develop the intellectual case for this vision and communicate it to the public. This will involve addressing aspects of policy other than the EU.

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New Frontiers' Director, Dominic Cummings, and New Frontiers' Director of Research, James Frayne, were Campaign Director and Director of Research for the anti-euro campaign (Business for Sterling, then the ‘no’ campaign, 1999 - 2003).