The FAES (Fundación para el Análisis y los Estudios Sociales or "Foundation for Analysis and Social Studies" in English) is a Spanish think tank. It is a non-profit liberal-conservative organisation with strong links to the People's Party (PP); it is even known informally as the "People's Party think-tank". Its headquarters are in Madrid. Each year, the FAES publishes a Report on Activities, which can be downloaded from its website.
Origin
The organisation was founded on November 11, 2002. Prior to the creation of the FAES, there were five separate foundations, all linked to the PP. These were: Fundación Cánovas del Castillo, Popular Iberoamericana, Popular Iberoamericana de Análisis y Estudios Sociales, Popular Iberoamericana de Estudios Europeos y el Instituto de Formación Política. These five foundations merged, becoming FAES.
Founding principles
The FAES seeks to reinforce values such as Western freedom, democracy and humanism.
Some of its founding principles include: liberal and representative democracy market economy defense of the idea of Europe as a union of nations bound by similar values alliance with Europe and the United States
It specifically advocates liberal and representative democracy because it allows the best “possible coordination between the nation's democratic exercise of power and the defense of individual rights.” FAES supports a market economy because it is most suited to allow “efficient allocation of resources, the boosting of reform, the strengthening of the middle class and the promotion of individual liberty.” The link between the US and Europe is essential to defend against threats such as terrorism and fundamentalism and will benefit the creation of a free trade area.
Goals
FAES aims to create, promote and spread ideas based on political, intellectual and economic freedom. Many of these ideas provide political alternatives to socialism. The purpose is to transform these ideas into programs of political action to better the future of Spain.
Instruments used to achieve these goals include discussion groups, seminars, lectures, summer conferences, and training courses. FAES’ ideas and political proposals are also disseminated through electronic publications such as a journal (known as Cuadernos de pensamiento político), reports (known as FAES Papers) and books.
Organization
The president of the association is former prime minister José María Aznar. The vice president since 2106 is Manuel Pizarro. The Secretary-General is Javier Zarzalejos. A board of trustees also governs the organization. Their responsibilities include deciding on a plan of activities and a budget as well as outlining areas of interest.
FAES is organized in several departments: Economy and Public Policies Constitution and Institutions International Department Publishing Department Communications Department Management Department Organization Department
FAES has four specialized units: Instituto Cánovas del Castillo: researches and disseminates the history of Spanish liberal-conservative thinking Instituto Manuel Fraga: studies Spanish political affairs after the democratic transition Instituto Popular Iberoamericano: develops and strengthens ties between Spain and Latin America Institut Catalunya Futur: organizes seminars based on the interests of Catalunya
In the news
Rankings
In the ‘2012 Global Go To Think Tanks Report and Policy Advice’ FAES was the best ranked Spanish think tank out of the top 150 think tanks worldwide. It was ranked number 60 in this classification, ahead of other Spanish institutions such as CIDOB, FRIDE, Real Instituto Elcano and Institución Futuro.
In the report ‘Transparencia, el mejor eslogan 2012’ FAES was first in the political foundations transparency ranking. The report ranked the transparency of many foundations linked to political parties and emphasized that FAES is the only foundation out of the 26 analyzed that provides financial information on its website.
Publications
FAES has published Spanish editions of books on global warming by Václav Klaus and Nigel Lawson, both politicians who deny climate science.
May 2013 marked the launch of a new book series called “Biografías Políticas,” which contains the biographies of important figures in the liberal-conservative tradition of contemporary Spain.