Websites and Blogs
The following is just a small selection of the varied resources that are available online, but provide a good starting point for anyone looking for further information.
Libertarian Organisations and Websites
The International Society for Individual Liberty (ISIL) is a network of individuals and associations in over 90 countries. Dedicated to building a free and peaceful world through the ideals of free markets, social tolerance and individual responsibility, ISIL provides a variety of useful educational material, including this Flash animation, which provides an easily accessible overview of libertarian thought.
The Libertarian Alliance is a UK based non-partisan group that aims to forward libertarian thought. Please note that there is no formal relationship between the Libertarian Party and the Libertarian Alliance; although both organisations are seeking to further libertarian views, our chosen approaches are very different.
Libertarians frequently, but not exclusively, are adherents of the Austrian School of economics. The most comprehensive website that deals with this topic is that of the Ludwig von Mises Institute.
Non-Partisan Organisations
The Freedom Association campaigns on issues relating to personal and political liberty. The TFA Council benefits from the support of many famous and distinguished public figures, such as Vladimir Bukovsky, Winston Churchill, Sir Ranulph Fiennes, Daniel Hannan, Roger Helmer, Gerald Howarth, Ruth Lea, Patrick Minford, Lord Pearson, Andrew Roberts and Lord Stoddart.
The basic philosophy of libertarianism revolves around the respect for human rights, both your own and those of others. Consequently, many libertarians have individual affiliations with one or both of the following organisations, and we would urge you to support their activities.
Liberty is a UK cross party, non-party membership organisation that seeks to protect civil liberties and promote human rights for everyone, and campaigns to protect basic rights and freedoms through the courts, in Parliament and in the wider community.
Whilst Liberty has a UK focus, Amnesty International campaigns on human rights issues across the globe. Amnesty currently has around 2.2 million members world-wide, and tirelessly works to highlight and end rights abuses, exerting influence on governments, political bodies, companies and intergovernmental groups through public pressure such as mass demonstrations, vigils and direct lobbying, as well as online and offline campaigning. Amnesty's current unsubscribe campaign highlights the horrors of torture currently being undertaken in the name of the 'War on Terror', which our government supports.
Think-Tanks
The Cato Institute was founded in 1977 by Edward H. Crane. It is a non-profit public policy research foundation headquartered in Washington, D.C. The Institute is named after Cato's Letters, a series of libertarian pamphlets that helped lay the philosophical foundation for the American Revolution.
The Fraser Institute is an independent non-partisan research and educational organisation based in Canada. The Institute's main focus is on studying the impact of markets and government interventions on the welfare of individuals, drawing upon the expertise of academics, economists, and policy analysts from around the world.
The Adam Smith Institute describes itself as the UK's leading innovator of free-market economic and social policies. Although frequently far too corporatist and statist in outlook to be unreservedly recommended, both the breadth and depth of topic coverage by the ASI is extremely good, and they certainly warrant a visit.
Like the ASI, the Institute of Economic Affairs provides a broad coverage of political topics, viewed from a free-market perspective.
Reform is a somewhat less well known UK think-tank, and was set-up in 2002 to promote the case for radical public sector and economic reform. Besides publishing a good range of strategic reports and analysis, Reform also provides a useful daily summary of media coverage of topical political issues (online sign-up here).
The Institute for the Study of Civil Society (Civitas) is not only a research and analysis driven think-tank, but also actively undertakes educational efforts for the schooling of children. With a non-partisan approach, Civitas provides frequently interesting commentary, with a primary focus on issues related to social cohesion. Civitas also publishes an informative blog.
Blogs
The Devil's Kitchen serves up a daily slice of life from the perspective of an irreverent UK libertarian blogger (caution: strong language).
Wat Tyler at Burning Our Money provides a thoughtful—and all too frequently disturbing—analysis of how our taxes are spent.
Similarly, the Taxpayers' Alliance blog provides further insight into the financial waste and inefficiency of 'big government' spending.
Tim Worstall pithily critiques media comment and opinion pieces from an easy to understand economics perspective. Essential reading for the libertarian layman.
Guido Fawkes' blog is a regular 'must read' for anybody interested in the (often deeply inappropriate) behind-the-scenes activities of our elected representatives at Westminster.
The blogs of The Nameless One and Harry Aldridge both provide a quixotic take on daily life, and UK and international politics (caution: some strong language).