Dr. Nigel Ashford is senior program officer at the Institute for Humane Studies. He joined IHS from the United Kingdom where he was professor of politics and Jean Monnet Scholar in European Integration at Staffordshire University, England. Dr. Ashford has also directed the Principles for a Free Society Project at the Jarl Hjalmarson Foundation in Sweden, and was a Bradley Resident Scholar at the Heritage Foundation and Visiting Scholar at the Social and Philosophy Policy Center in Bowling Green. He is a recipient of the International Anthony Fisher Trust Prize for published work which strengthens public understanding of the political economy of the free society.

Dr. Ashford was also Chairman of the American Politics Group of the United Kingdom. He is author of Principles for a Free Society (Jarl Hjalmarson Foundation, 1999, 2003), which is available in six languages. He is co-author of US Politics Today (Manchester University Press, 1999); Public Policy and the Impact of the New Right (St Martin's Press, 1994) and A Dictionary of Conservative and Libertarian Thought (Routledge, 1991), and numerous articles on how ideas influence US politics.