Right-Wing Cabals?

Let’s be clear at the outset: Not a Conspiracy Theory: How Business Propaganda Hijacks Democracy is a conspiracy theory—an effort to assess and explain the current state of Canadian politics and public discourse by examining conservative strategies over three decades to influence debate and policy making. It is also a call to action for progressive forces. With this engaging and provocative book, Donald Gutstein will take a prominent place in a tradition of Canadian authors calling attention to and heavily criticizing conservative thinking and resulting shifts in economic, trade, taxation, energy and social policy. Forerunners include Linda McQuaig and Naomi Klein, and the book calls to mind the ongoing work of G. William Domhoff in the United States probing “who rules America.” This book will stimulate strong reactions: it will be celebrated in some quarters, vilified in others, and many public intellectuals and pundits will rush to defend their names.

Gutstein, a journalist and political activist, has published with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, and has been a senior lecturer with the School of Communication at Simon Fraser University and a co-director of NewsWatch Canada (previously Project Censored). He tells us that we are in the midst of a “war of ideas” over the role of government, and that the public’s confidence in government has been steadily corroding, with corporate and conservative ideological interests influencing and capturing the media through think tanks, foundations and a cadre of conservative scholars, pundits and judges, which, in turn, have led to a right-wing shift in public policy and undermined democracy. While sounding the alarm and seeking to mobilize anti-conservative forces, Gutstein falls short of making a convincing case that business and conservative propaganda has hijacked democracy.

The study begins provocatively by linking the recent economic crisis emanating from the United States to business boosterism on CNBC and other channels. Gutstein asserts that many think tanks and pundits acted “simply [as] agents of their corporate sponsors” and that citizens and democracy were made vulnerable as a result. Chapter 1 presents the first of three case studies on the drive for continental integration by the Canadian corporate elite in the post-9/11 environment, and also considers the calls to insulate control over monetary policy from governments. These examples are meant to show how firms and investors seek to manage public opinion and policy against the interests of citizens, and that the “risk to business is that in a democracy the public will engage in healthy, critical discussion, which will conclude that business is too powerful and needs to be reined in.” Drawing on propaganda theory, and echoing Naomi Klein in The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, Gutstein notes that for “propaganda to succeed, the propagandist must create a crisis, or at least the perception of a crisis.” In his view, organizations such as the Canadian Council of Chief Executives and scholars working for think tanks such as the Public Policy Forum, the C.D. Howe Institute, the Institute for Research on Public Policy and the Fraser Institute, “take the risk out of democracy by assisting in the management of public opinion in the interests of business.” Gutstein acknowledges that progressive think tanks exist, but asserts that they are less effective because they have less funding and insufficient access to media coverage and to Liberal and Conservative governments.

After outlining a methodology for analyzing propaganda regimes, Gutstein reaches across the centuries for historical examples, including recent war propaganda and public relations, and “flak” efforts to squelch the voices of labour and other oppositional voices by name calling and sidestepping debate. He zeroes in on the right-wing propaganda system that took root in the U.S. during the 1970s and ’80s, with the grooming of Ronald Reagan, the work of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Business Roundtable, and a concerted effort to influence the media, politics, courts and academics. He reviews the rise of libertarian and neo-conservative think tanks, such as the American Enterprise Institute, the Cato Institute and The Heritage Foundation, and the role of wealthy philanthropists and public intellectuals such as Milton Friedman, Friedrich Hayek and Leo Strauss, among others, in inspiring and sustaining these organizations.

He then turns to the building of the conservative intellectual infrastructure in Canada, showing the growth and influence of the Fraser Institute, the National Citizens Coalition, Alberta Report, the Canada West Foundation, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, and the Reform and Alliance parties, all supported by corporate interests. He focuses on the rise of the “Calgary School” at the University of Calgary and its connections to Stephen Harper, and notes how funding has flowed from the Donner Canadian Foundation, the Max Bell Foundation and others to many western-based think tanks. In the 1990s, the movement began extending itself across the country, with the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies (AIMS) in Halifax, the Montreal Economic Institute (MEI) and the Frontier Centre for Public Policy (FCPP) in Winnipeg. Gutstein then traces the linkages among newspapers, think tanks and conservative ownership, using The Dominion Institute and The Globe and Mail as a prime example, and worries that continuing efforts to reduce the staff at newspapers has led to think tanks supplying more of both their news and commentary. He devotes two chapters to detailing the role of various public relations firms and think tanks in the climate change debate and in the efforts to privatize medicare in this country.

In his final chapter, Gutstein imagines a future Canada that is very American in terms of the coordination and influence of corporate and conservative interests, the inroads of conservative judicial appointments, the emergence of Civitas to challenge judicial activism, and the creation of the Canadian Constitution Foundation to fight for conservative values in the courts and to build a presence in university law schools. He detours into the unexamined background of supposedly neutral pundits on defence policy issues, the imperviousness of Canadians to conservative values and the reliance of corporations on government for support and on the courts for various protections and rights. Recognizing the existence of a “progressive counter-structure” in Canada, Gutstein concludes by suggesting a broad agenda for mobilizing these forces, noting the need for (and the challenge of) securing funding from foundations and developing a more strategic approach across progressive entities.

Gutstein skillfully uses key moments and events, the interplay of ideas and personalities, and the publication of studies to draw attention to issues and to provide a sense of the evolving fabric and interactions among conservative scholars, pundits, funders and politicians. In essence, Gutstein provides a history and membership of what Paul Sabatier—in an article published in Knowledge in 1987—has called an “advocacy coalition”: individuals and organizations inside and outside government that share similar values, although not always fully aligned because they have distinct interests, seeking to effect policy change consistent with those values, beliefs and interests. Not a Conspiracy Theory is not a systematic network analysis by the standards of sociology, but stands an interesting portrait. Some readers will find his tour of the conservative horizon in Canada disturbing; for others, it will be alarmist and skewed.

The distinct contribution of Not a Conspiracy Theory is to bring a communications and propaganda perspective to bear on the activities and support network for think tanks. The intellectual arguments and historical perspectives focus on corporate propaganda efforts, but this is never contrasted with similar efforts associated with building the welfare state. Moreover, Gutstein provides a stunningly brief history of Canadian think tanks, ignoring scholarly work that covers much of the same ground (by Donald Abelson and myself, among others). Not only does that literature identify two waves of think tanks, including government-funded councils and non-profit think tanks, before the right-wing wave of think tanks began to emerge, but it also provides typologies, concepts and frameworks that would have assisted in teasing out the history and cases presented in the book. With these insights, Gutstein might have more squarely acknowledged that the steady investment in think tanks by conservatives arose from a belief that there were too many government and left-of-centre influences on public policy. Sabatier has long argued that advocacy coalitions make investments in analysis and research (and, presumably, coordination) precisely because of perceived threats from other advocacy coalitions to their values and interests.

Gutstein focuses much attention on the Fraser Institute, some on AIMS, FCPP and MEI, and pays only passing attention to the work of the Canada West Foundation, the C.D. Howe Institute and the IRPP. Ignored are The Conference Board of Canada, the Canadian Tax Foundation and other “centrist” think tanks, to name a few. One wonders if they were less easy targets, if their work is more credible or if they publish less information on supporters and events. In examining the linkages among conservative think tanks and supporters, Gutstein acknowledges distinct perspectives, but more could have been done to systematically map value clusters, show where the uneasy alliances are and where political tradeoffs have been made. A bigger spotlight on these dynamics might show the limits to launching and implementing the full right-wing agenda implied in this book.

Gutstein is at his best when systematically pointing to backgrounds of conservatives and the emergence of organizations, and taking close looks at the authors and claims of some studies. Throughout the book, Gutstein uses publicly available information to examine the education, mentors, career paths and relationships of scores of reporters, editors, pundits and scholars. However, such chronicling seems like “outing” individuals, implying the author has uncovered something important that was meant to be hidden. Gutstein often uses a dismissive tone, suggesting that scholars, journalists and pundits are little more than trained seals barking for corporate interests. Not a Conspiracy Theory can be seen as a counterpoint to recent writing such as Bob Plamondon’s Full Circle: Death and Resurrection in Canadian Conservative Politics and Hugh Segal’s The Long Road Back: The Conservative Journey, 1993–2006, among others, which chronicle and celebrate the same network broadening and institution building.

Gutstein flags the Straussian disposition toward secrecy, implying that Canada’s conservative network is composed of stealthy conspirators. But is this really the case? The Fraser Institute, for example, has been remarkably open over the years about its connections and there is no secret about the kind of board members it attracts: for example, Hassan Khosrowshahi (chair and CEO of Inwest Investments and former CEO of Future Shop), Edward Belzberg (CEO, Jayberg Enterprises), Mark Mitchell (president, Reliant Capital) and Gwyn Morgan (former president and CEO, EnCana). Likewise, it is not difficult to find out what projects and causes the Donner Canadian, Mannix and other foundations support. And, while many readers may not share the values of movement conservatives, it is not necessarily conspiratorial to engage in conviction politics, tap into international gurus and networks, secure funding from sympathetic individuals and organizations, and rely on fellow intellectual travelling companions as careers progress. Members of any political movement, including progressives in Canada, are conspirators using these standards.

Gutstein falls into the trap of many observers of think tanks: because some have greater media profile and more funding, they must be influential. But it is difficult for think tank leaders to provide definitive evidence of impact. Scholars such as Donald Abelson, Kathleen McNutt and Gregory Marchildon have itemized studies, events and arguments and catalogued the extent of media coverage and web presence of various think tanks. But this is not a substitute for demonstrating impact on policy makers. Moreover, think tanks likely have varying degrees of influence at different stages of the policy-making process, primarily at the agenda-setting phase, as has been pointed out by Abelson. Not a Conspiracy Theory has little to say about how think tank studies and media reporting of them compete for the attention of elected leaders with the advice of other experts, officials and political operatives.

Where the public and democracy are concerned, Gutstein asserts that the values and attitudes of citizens have shifted to the right. Later, though, he notes the resistance and distrust of many Canadians to conservative ideas and their continued interest in social programs. Ironically, his analysis essentially discounts the ability of citizens to appreciate the dynamics and linkages he describes and to judge accordingly. A higher-level concern expressed by observers such as Andrew Rich is that the name calling and flak activities from all ideological divides through think tanks and in the media have denigrated the reputation of social science research in the eyes of the public. Other analysts, such as Donald Critchlow and John Ralston Saul, have pointed to tension between expert advice (not just the conservative strains of it) and democracy, suggesting that this has always been a challenge for progressive scholars and intellectuals as they, too, attempt to influence the media and policy makers.

In recent years there has been a resurgence of interest in evidence-based policy making, although this is not developed as a full theme in Gutstein’s book. Some of the best moments in the book occur when Gutstein closely reviews studies, their sources and media reporting. In Chapter 7, for example, Gutstein reports on the efforts of the Fraser Institute, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation and The Globe and Mail and the National Post in Canada to challenge the scientific consensus on global warming and the Kyoto Protocol, and notes the linkages to similar efforts in the United States. Nevertheless, the work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change stands as a great example of how systematic research across jurisdictions has tapped into evidence and data from around the world, generated great debate and eventually led to a consensus over time, one that has overcome the climate change deniers, even as many industries and governments drag their heels. As the climate scientists have learned, and Gutstein illuminates, this is where the real trench warfare occurs in the war of ideas.

For all its merits and provocation, Not a Conspiracy Theory is a job half-done. Missing is an uncompromising and equally extensive examination of the “propaganda efforts” of the advocacy coalitions associated with centre-left political interests in Canada. Trenchant self-analysis of the dynamics and work of these advocacy coalitions is required: How well do they practise the techniques of propaganda and getting their message out? How effectively do they tap into a considerable array of intellectual talent across the country? How skilled are they in marshalling evidence and making head-way with the media? And what are the recent lessons from the U.S. and other countries about how to revitalize progressive causes?

Chronicling and complaining about the ostensible successes, deep pockets, networks and media exposure of conservative idea shapers may be cathartic and serve to rile up the most committed, but it will only get progressive and liberal forces so far. Serious self-examination, realistic and hard-nosed anticipatory policy design, and coordination rooted in a large picture of the institutional and policy landscape will be essential if these advocacy coalitions want to eventually match the strategy and tactics of conservative forces in Canada.