The mythical Atlas carries the world on his shoulders. This one tries to put it under its thumb.

The most impressive aspect of the Atlas Network is probably its combination of effectiveness and obscurity. In terms of effectiveness, all of our lives, at this point, have been significantly affected by the Atlas Network, and unless you are one of their billionaire donors or chosen protégés, that influence will have been negative. As for obscurity, very few people have heard of the Atlas Network, even in climate and economics research spheres, and fewer even understand its operation. My goal in this short piece is to provide you with a brief history of the Atlas Network, from ideological foundation to worldwide launch, its purpose and mode of operation. Since it is only when we understand what we are up against that we can effectively confront it and win, I believe this understanding is fundamental to any potential of pro-equality, pro-democracy and pro-climate political change.

I should start with a disclaimer: I am an ecological economist working on degrowth and the social science side of climate mitigation. I am not an expert of neo-liberalism or the Atlas Network directly. However, despite its secretive nature, the operations of the Atlas Network have been open enough to study. Journalists like Brendan Montague and Amy Westervelt, as well as scholars like Wendy Brown, Dieter Plewe and Jeremy Walker, have been doing stellar research on the topic for years.

Neo-liberalism