Demos (UK think tank)
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| Formation | 1993 |
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| Legal status | Charity (no. 1042046) |
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| Website | www.demos.co.uk |
Demos is a think tank based in the United Kingdom with a cross-party political viewpoint. It was founded in 1993 and specialises in social policy, developing evidence-based solutions in a range of areas - from education and skills to health and housing.
Demos also houses the Centre for the Analysis of Social Media, which leads the study of how the rise of the digital world affects politics, policy and decision-making.
The current Chief Executive is Claudia Wood, who joined the think tank in 2009 and previously worked for Tony Blair’s strategy unit.
Demos publishes a quarterly journal, titled Demos Quarterly, which features articles from politicians, academics and Demos researchers.
The organisation is an independently registered educational charity.
Demos was founded in 1993 by former Marxism Today editor Martin Jacques, and Geoff Mulgan, who became its first director. It was formed in response to what Mulgan, Jacques and others saw as a crisis in politics in Britain, with voter engagement in decline and political institutions unable in their view to adapt to major social changes. Demos was conceived as a network of networks which could draw together different sources of ideas and expertise to improve public policy.
In the run-up to the 1997 general election it was seen as being close to the Labour Party, in particular its then leader Tony Blair. It defines itself, however, as independent of any political party. Geoff Mulgan went on to work inside Downing Street in 1997. At that time Demos was seen as central to New Labour's vision for Britain.
Between 1998 and 2006, under Director Tom Bentley, it moved away from being just a think tank and an increasing part of its workload was described as 'public interest consultancy'. It also did an increasing amount of work internationally. Demos works with a number of partners including government departments, public sector agencies and charities.
In 2007, a brief spell by Madeleine Bunting as Director was followed by the appointment of Catherine Fieschi, who stepped down in July 2008 and was succeeded by Richard Reeves, a former economic journalist, Director of Research at the Work Foundation and biographer of John Stuart Mill. Reeves also co-presented the 2005 BBC programme 'Making Slough Happy', a social experiment to improve the well-being of residents of a British town.
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