About BIEN

Mission Statement | Executive Committee | National affiliates | A Short History of BIEN | Basic Income Studies

The Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN) was founded in 1986 as the Basic Income European Network. (see here the BIEN Statutes)

It expanded its scope from European to the Earth in 2004. It is an international network that serves as a link between individuals and groups committed to or interested in basic income, and fosters informed discussion of the topic throughout the world.

To that end it organizes Congresses every two years, and publishes a free email NewsFlash every two months and it helps support the journal Basic Income Studies.

BIEN is supported by individuals members from throughout the world.

BIEN is affiliated with sixteen national networks throughout the world.

Contact: bien@basicincome.org
The Basic Income Earth Network c/o
Chaire Hoover d'éthique économique et sociale, Université catholique de Louvain
Place Montesquieu, 3, B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, BELGIUM

Mission Statement

Founded in 1986, the Basic Income European Network (BIEN) aims to serve as a link between individuals and groups committed to, or interested in, basic income, i.e. an income unconditionally granted to all on an individual basis, without means test or work requirement, and to foster informed discussion on this topic throughout Europe.

Members of BIEN include academics, students and social policy practitioners as well as people actively engaged in political, social and religious organisations. They vary in terms of disciplinary backgrounds and political affiliations no less than in terms of age and citizenship. In the course of two decades, "BIEN" has become somewhat of a misnomer, as scholars and activists from other continents have actively joined the network.

Common to all is the belief that some sort of economic right based upon citizenship - rather than upon one's relationship to the production process or one's family status - is called for as part of the just solution to social problems in advanced societies. Basic Income, conceived as a universal and unconditional, if modest, continuous stream of income granted throughout life to all members of a political community is just the simplest and most striking element in an expanding set of social policy proposals inspired by this belief and currently debated, if not already implemented.

To actively foster this debate, BIEN publishes a newsletter which provides an up-to-date and comprehensive international overview on relevant events and publications. It organises bi-annual BIEN-congresses where people from more than twenty countries have met to report and discuss basic income and related proposals in connection with a broad spectrum of themes, such as unemployment, European integration, poverty, development, changing patterns of work career and family life, and principles of social justice.

Bien's Executive Committee is elected by the General Assembly for a period extending to the latter's next meeting. The Executive Committee can co-opt other people for specific tasks, but without voting rights. It meets at least once a year at the Secretary's initiative. Within the limits set by the decisions of the General Assembly, it takes any action it judges useful to the pursuit of BIEN's purposes.

(See here the GA minutes of the General Assembly 2008)

(See here the GA minutes of the General Assembly 2006)

BIEN: COMMITTEE FUNCTIONS For the 2008-2010 term

Current Members of the Executive Committee

Co-chairs

Ingrid VAN NIEKERK ivanniekerk@epri.org.za, Economic Policy Research Institute, Cape Town, South Africa

Karl WIDERQUIST Karl@Widerquist.com, University of Reading, United Kingdom

Secretary

David CASASSAS david.casassas@uab.cat, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain

Treasurer-Fundraiser

Almaz ZELLEKE zellekea@newschool.edu, The New School, New York, USA

Newsflash editor

Yannick VANDERBORGHT yannick.vanderborght@uclouvain.be, Facultés universitaires Saint Louis in Brussels, and Université catholique de Louvain, Belgium

Website manager

Simon BIRNBAUM simon.birnbaum@statsvet.su.se, Department of Political Science, Stockholm University, Sweden

Regional Coordinators and Fundraisers

Louise HAAGH lh11@york.ac.uk, Department of Politics, University of York, United Kingdom

Eri NOGUCHI en16@columbia.edu, Columbia University, New York, USA

James MULVALE jim.mulvale@uregina.ca, University of Regina, Regina, Canada (nonvoting)

Organiser of São Paulo 2010 BIEN Conference
TBA

Honorary Co-Presidents

Eduardo SUPLICY esuplicy@senado.gov.br, Federal Senator, São Paulo, Brazil

Guy STANDING guystanding@compuserve.com, Professor of Economic Security, University of Bath, United Kingdom, and Professor of Labour Economics, Monash University, Australia

Members of the International Advisory Board

The International Board consists of the current members of the Executive committee (listed above), the representatives of the recognized national affiliates (listed below) and all the former members of BIEN's Executive committee.

Chair:
Philippe Van Parijs

Former members of BIEN's Executive Committee:
Alexander de Roo
Edwin Morley-Fletcher
José Antonio Noguera
Seán Healy
Claus Offe
Ilona Ostner
Steven Quilley
Robert J. van der Veen
Walter Van Trier
Lieselotte Wohlgenannt

To date, BIEN has recognised sixteen national basic income networks. Four national organisations applied for and became BIEN affiliates at the General Assembly in June 2008. The new BIEN affiliates represent the nations of Canada, Italy, Japan, and Mexico.

ARGENTINA: Red Argentina de Ingreso Ciudadano
Founded in March 2004
www.ingresociudadano.org.
President: Rubén M. Lo Vuolo
Member of BIEN’s International Advisory Board: Rubén Lo Vuolo
ciepp@ciepp.org.ar

AUSTRALIA: Basic Income Guarantee Australia (BIGA)
Founded in 2002
www.basicincome.qut.edu.au
Coordinator: John Tomlinson (j.tomlinson@qut.edu.au)
Quensland University of Technology
School of Humanities and Human Services
Beams Rd.
Carseldine
Australia 4034
Tel.: +07 38644528
Fax.: +07 38644995

AUSTRIA: Netzwerk Grundeinkommen und sozialer Zusammenhalt - B.I.E.N. Austria
Founded in October 2002
www.grundeinkommen.at
Coordinator: Margit Appel
redaktion@ksoe.at
margit.appel@ksoe.at
Spokesperson: Markus Blümel
markus.bluemel@ksoe.at
Schottenring 35/DG
A-1010 Wien

BRAZIL: Rede Brasileira de Renda Básica de Ciudadania
Founded in September 2004
Coordinator: Eduardo Suplicy
eduardo.suplicy@senador.gov.br

CANADA: BIEN Canada
Founded in June 2008
Coordinator: Jim Mulvale
jim.mulvale@uregina.ca
Dept. of Justice Studies
University of Regina
Regina, Saskatchewan, S4S 0A2 Canada
Tel: (306) 585 4237
Fax: (306) 585 4815

DENMARK: Borgerlønsbevægelsen
Founded in January 2000
www.borgerloen.dk
President: Jørg Gaugler
per@borgerloen.dk

GERMANY: Netzwerk Grundeinkommen
Founded in July 2004
www.grundeinkommen.de
Spokespersons: Hardy Krampertz, Guenter Soelken, Robert Ulmer, Aurelia Weinhold, Birgit Zenker
kontakt@grundeinkommen.de

IRELAND: BIEN Ireland
Founded in March 1995
Coordinator: John Baker
John.Baker@ucd.ie
Member of BIEN's International Advisory Board: John Baker
Equality Studies Centre
University College Dublin
Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland
Tel.: +353-1-716 7104, Fax: +353-1-716 1171

ITALY: Bin Italia (Basic Income Network Italy)
Founded in July 2008
http://www.bin-italia.org
President: Luca Santini (luca.santini@bin-italia.org)
Contact person: Sandro Gobetti (sandro.gobetti@bin-italia.org; sgobetti@regione.lazio.it)
Member of BIEN’s International Advisory Board: Sandro Gobetti
Email: info@bin-italia.org
Address: Via Apollodoro 4, cap 00053, Civitavecchia Rome, Italy
Tel.: Luca Santini (BIN Italy President): +39 3487752116 
Andrea Fumagalli (BIN Italia Vice-President): +39 3407307708 
Sandro Gobetti (BIN communication referent and Bin Report) +39 3334375476

JAPAN: Basic Income Japanese Network
Founded in November 2007
Coordinator: Toru Yamamori
toruyamamori@gmail.com
http://www1.doshisha.ac.jp/~tyamamor/bijnenglish.html
c/o Dr. Toru Yamamori, Faculty of Economics, 
Doshisha University, Karasuma-Higashi-iru,
Imadegawa-dori, Kamigyo-ku, Kyoto, 602-8580, Japan

MEXICO: Red Mexicana Ingreso Ciudadano Universal
Founded in April 2008
Coordinator: Pablo Yanes (ingresociudadano@gmail.com; pyanes2007@gmail.com)
Member of BIEN’s International Advisory Board: Pablo Yanes
Website: http://www.icu.org.mx

NETHERLANDS - Vereniging Basisinkomen
Coordinator: Guido den Broeder
Igor Stravinskisingel 50
3069MA Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Tel.: 010-4559538 or 070-3859268
E-mail: info@basisinkomen.nl
http://www.basisinkomen.nl

SPAIN: Red Renta Basica
Founded in February 2001
www.redrentabasica.org
President: Daniel Raventós 
Member of BIEN's International Advisory Board: Daniel Raventós
presidencia@redrentabasica.org or danielraventos@ub.edu
Príncep d’Astúries 56, àtic
08012 Barcelona, Spain
Tel.: +34.93.402.90.51, Fax: +34.93.322.65.54

SWITZERLAND: BIEN Switzerland
Founded in September 2002
President: Pierre Hérold
c/o Jean-Daniel Jimenez
jean-da.jimenez@bluewin.ch
39, rue Louis-Favre
1201 Geneva
Tel.: +41 22 733 41 09 or +41 78 847 47 56

UNITED KINGDOM: Citizen's Income Trust
Founded in 1984 (initially as "Basic Income Research Group")
www.citizensincome.org
Director: Malcolm Torry
Member of BIEN's International Advisory Board: Malcolm Torry
info@citizensincome.org
Citizens Income Trust, P.O. Box 26586,
London SE3 7WY, United Kingdom.
Tel.: 44-20-8305 1222
Fax: 44-20-8305 1802

UNITED STATES: U.S. Basic Income Guarantee Network (USBIG)
Founded in December 1999
www.usbig.net
Coordinator: Karl Widerquist (karl@widerquist.com)
Member of BIEN's International Advisory Board: Michael Lewis

The origins (1983-1986) - An idea, a collective, a prize. In the Autumn of 1983, three young researchers decided to set up a working group in order to explore the implications of an extremely simple, unusual but attractive idea which one of them had proposed to call, in a paper circulated a few months earlier, "allocation universelle". Paul-Marie Boulanger, Philippe Defeyt and Philippe Van Parijs were then, or had recently been, attached to the departments of demography, economics and philosophy, respectively, of the Catholic University of Louvain (Belgium). The group became known as the Collectif Charles Fourier. Its main output was a special issue of the Brussels monthly La Revue nouvelle (April 1985). But along the way, it won a prize, with a provocative summary of the idea and its putative consequences, in an essay competition on the future of work organised by the King Baudouin Foundation.

The first meeting - With the money it thus unexpectedly earned, the Collectif Charles Fourier decided to organise a meeting to which they would invite a number of people to whom the idea of an unconditional basic income had, they gradually discovered, independently occurred . This became the first iinternational conference on basic income, held in Louvain-la-Neuve in September 1986, with sixty iinvited participants. This was quite an extraordinary event, with many seemingly lonely fighters suddenly discovering a whole bunch of kin spirits. They included, among others, Gunnar Adler-Karlsson, Jan-Otto Andersson, Peter Ashby, Yoland Bresson, Paul de Beer, Alexander de Roo, Nic Douben, Ian Gough, Pierre Jonckheere, Bill Jordan, Greetje Lubbi, Edwin Morley-Fletcher, Claus Offe, Riccardo Petrella, David Purdy, Guy Standing, Robert van der Veen and Georg Vobruba.

Seeds of a lasting network - At the final session of the conference, several participants expressed the wish that some more permanent association be created, with the task of publishing a regular newsletter and organising regular conferences. Guy Standing proposed calling this association Basic Income European Network, which gathered an easy consensus, since no one could beat the beauty of the corresponding acronym (BIEN). Its purpose, later enshrined in its Statutes, was formulated as follows: BIEN aims to serve as a link between individuals and groups committed to or interested in basic income, and to foster informed discussion on this topic throughout Europe.Peter Ashby (National Council for Voluntaty organisations), Claus Offe (University of Bremen) and Guy Standing (International Labour Organisation) became co-chairmen. Walter Van Trier (University of Antwerp) became secretary, and Alexander de Roo (parliamentary assistant at the European Parliament) treasurer.
BIEN's past and current activities - From 1986 on, in addition to smaller events, BIEN has been organising one major international congress every second year, in an increasingly structured and professional way. In each case, a major academic or international organisation has accepted to host it, and financial support has been forthcoming from many sources, both public and private, both national and international. BIEN's first two congresses were small enough to lend themselves to the publication of proceedings, but subsequent congresses had far too many contributions for them to fit into a volume of proceedings. Many of the papers presented were independently published and several found their ways into two books largely inspired by BIEN's congresses:

• Philippe Van Parijs ed., Arguing for Basic Income. Ethical Foundations for a Radical Reform. London & New York: Verso, 1992
• Robert J. van der Veen & Loek Groot eds., Basic Income on the Agenda. Policy Options and Political Feasibility. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2000
• Standing, G. ed., Promoting Income Security as a Right. Europe and North America, London: Anthem Press.

Since 1988 BIEN published a Newsletter three times per year since 1988 (33 issues, some in collaboration with the London-based Citizen's Income Study Center). Publication of the Newsletter has been discontinued, but instead since January 2000 BIEN has started publishing a regular NewsFlash. BIEN'sNewsFlash appears every second month and is dispatched electronically to over half a thousand subscribers. It can also be downloaded from the BIEN web. Finally, since 1996 BIEN maintains a very substantial website, which includes, among other items, a very substantial annotated bibliography.

After its Congress in Barcelona (2004), BIEN extended its scope: now its name is Basic Income Earth Network. All life members of the Basic Income European Network, many of whom were non-Europeans, automatically became life members of the Basic Income Earth Network.

Basic Income Studies (BIS) is the first academic journal to focus specifically on basic income and cognate policies. It provides a forum for the discussion of theoretical issues and empirical research on the design and implementation of basic income schemes and the future direction of universal welfare policy. It is published by the Berkeley Electronic Press and sponsored by Red Renta Básica (the Spanish basic income network), the Spanish Instituto de Estudios Fiscales, and the Basic Income Earth Network.