Initiative Neue Soziale Marktwirtschaft

"INSM" redirects here. Not to be confused with International School of New Media (ISNM).

The Initiative Neue Soziale Marktwirtschaft (INSM) – New Social Free Market Initiative – is a neoliberal German think tank and lobby group with headquarters in Berlin that was founded in 2000 by the employers' organization Gesamtmetall.[1] Through professional communication, the INSM tries to create a favorable climate for free-market economic reforms, and entrepreneurship, emphasizing individual responsibility and competitiveness.[2]

Economic and political experts closely associated with the INSM and serving as "INSM ambassadors" include Roland Berger, Arend Oetker, Hans Tietmeyer, Wolfgang Clement, Paul Kirchhof, Oswald Metzger, Silvana Koch-Mehrin, and others.[3][2][4] The INSM brand was created by the advertising agency Scholz & Friends, from which the INSM still receives strategic input.[2]

The lobby organisation is known for its public relations work and campaigns. Some of its activities and campaigns, like those during the German federal election campaign of 2021, are subject of controversy and public criticism.[5]

Organisation

Structure

The sole shareholder of INSM is the German Economic Institute.[6][7] The institute's supporting associations are the Confederation of German Employers' Associations and the Federation of German Industries.[8]

In 1999, the PR agency berolino.pr GmbH was founded by the employers' associations of the metal and electrical industries, which appeared in public as the Initiative Neue Soziale Marktwirtschaft. Originally based in Cologne, the company headquarters were moved to Berlin in 2010.[9][10]

The INSM also works with the Allensbach Institute.[11]

Budget

The INSM's annual budget was around 5,7 million euros in 2024 and comes from employers' associations in the metal and electrical industries.[12]

Media partnerships

INSM has partnered with print media like Wirtschaftswoche, Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, Die Welt and Handelsblatt but also influences the guest choice for political talkshows;[3] it tries to reach a political audience via influence on TV-series scripts, and to reach young people via content in MTV.[13][2]

Campaigns

In July 2019, INSM launched a campaign with the aim of redefining how climate change should be tackled.[14] It was built on 12 so-called "facts", arguing essentially that Germany is already doing its share, and that limiting temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius will be sufficient. These have been analysed by Volker Quaschning, focussing on the orientation of the statement toward preservation of German national industry.[15]

Ahead of the 2021 national elections, INSM launched a campaign in which it portrayed the Green Party's chancellor candidate Annalena Baerbock dressed as a biblical Moses, holding two tablets under the caption "Annalena and the 10 prohibitions." In its campaign, the group attacked the Greens' policies to steer Germans into electric cars and onto trains instead of domestic flights. Its portrayal of Baerbock as Moses met criticism and accusations of anti-Semitism.[16]

See also

References

  1. ^ Pühringer, Stephan; Ötsch, Walter O. (2017). "Right-wing populism and market-fundamentalism: Two mutually reinforcing threats to democracy in the 21st century – ICAE Working Paper Series" (PDF). ICAE.
  2. ^ a b c d Speth, Rudolf (2004). "Die politischen Strategien der Initiative neue soziale Marktwirtschaft Arbeitspapier, No. 96" (PDF) (in German). Hans-Böckler-Stiftung, Düsseldorf.
  3. ^ a b Oppong, Marvin (2009-07-24). "Initiative Neue Soziale Marktwirtschaft: Lobbyisten auf Sendung". Die Tageszeitung: Taz (in German). Retrieved 2019-07-15.
  4. ^ "Was ist eigentlich "neo-liberal"?" (PDF) (in German).
  5. ^ "Chefwechsel beim Lobbyclub der Industrie : CDU-Politiker übernimmt Initiative". Der Tagesspiegel Online (in German). ISSN 1865-2263. Retrieved 2026-01-22.
  6. ^ "Über uns - INSM". www.insm.de. Retrieved 2026-01-22.
  7. ^ "Initiative neue soziale marktwirtschaft". lobbypedia.de (in German (formal address)). Retrieved 2026-01-22.
  8. ^ "Die Mitglieder des Instituts der deutschen Wirtschaft Köln e. V." (PDF). 2026-01-22.
  9. ^ "Angriff der Schleichwerber". www.fr.de (in German). 2019-01-30. Retrieved 2026-01-22.
  10. ^ "Historie - INSM". www.insm.de. Retrieved 2026-01-22.
  11. ^ "Allensbach-Umfrage: In der Krise setzen Deutsche auf den Markt - WELT". DIE WELT (in German). Retrieved 2026-01-22.
  12. ^ "Lobbyregistereintrag "INSM - Initiative Neue Soziale Marktwirtschaft"". Lobbyregister beim Deutschen Bundestag (in German). Retrieved 2026-01-22.
  13. ^ "INSM und Marienhof – Eine kritische Bewertung" (PDF) (in German). lobbycontrol. 2005.
  14. ^ "12 Fakten zur Klimapolitik Fortschritt, Wachstum und Klimaschutz gehören zusammen" (in German). INSM. 2019. Archived from the original on 2019-08-01.
  15. ^ "Faktencheck der "12 Fakten zum Klimaschutz" der Initiative Neue Soziale Marktwirtschaft INSM" (in German). Volker Quaschning. 2019. Archived from the original on 2019-08-01.
  16. ^ Paul Carrel (June 15, 2021), German business lobby group defends its mocking of Greens leader Reuters.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.