Think tank

A think tank is a research institute, other organization or informal group providing advice and ideas on any aspect of future planning and strategy - for example issues of policy, commerce, and military interest, and are often associated with military laboratories, corporations, academia, or other institutions. Usually this term refers specifically to organizations which support multi-disciplinary theorists and intellectuals who endeavor to produce analysis or policy recommendations.
*A think tank is an organization that sponsors research on specific problems, encourages the discovery of solutions to those problems, and facilitates interaction among scientists and intellectuals in pursuit of these goals. A public policy think tank explicitly focuses on government policies, usually for the purpose of improving those policies or creating viable alternatives.
*By their very nature, public policy think tanks are involved with the academic and scholarly world. In fact, the most important sources of political change are not politicians, political parties or financial contributions. Rather, they are ideas generated on college campuses, in think tanks and in other research organizations around the country. [1]

History of think tanks

Since "think tank" is a term that has only found use since the 1950s, there is still some debate over what constitutes the first think tank. One candidate is the Fabian Society of Britain, founded in 1884 to promote gradual social change. The Brookings Institution, founded in the US in 1916 is another candidate for the first think tank. The term think tank itself, however, was originally used in reference to organizations that offered military advice, most notably the RAND Corporation, formed originally in 1945.

Until around 1970, there were no more than several dozen think tanks, mostly focused on offering non-partisan policy and military advice to the United States government, and generally with large staffs and research budgets. After 1970, the number of think tanks exploded, as many smaller new think tanks were formed to express various partisan, political, and ideological views.

Etymology and usage

Until the 1940s, most think-tanks were known only by the name of the institution. During the Second World War, think tanks were referred to as "brain boxes" after the slang term for the skull. The phrase "think tank" in wartime American slang referred to rooms in which strategists discussed war planning. The first recorded use of the phrase to refer to modern think tanks was in 1959, and by the 1960s the term was commonly used to describe RAND and other groups assisting the armed forces. In recent times, the phrase "think tank" has become applied to a wide range of advice-giving institutions, and there are no precise definitions of the term. Marketing or public relations organizations, especially of an international character, sometimes refer to themselves as think tanks, for example.

Types of think tanks

Some think tanks are clearly aligned with conservative or pro-market approaches to the economy, while others, especially those with an emphasis on social welfare, social equity or environmental outcomes, are viewed as more liberal or left-of-center.

A new trend, resulting from globalisation, is collaboration between think tanks across continents. For instance, the Brookings Institution, Washington DC, collaborates with Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Qatar for an initiative on West-Islam relations. Also, in the area of West-Islam relations, Strategic Foresight Group, a think tank based in India, works closely with the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in the European Parliament. The World Economic Forum has created Council of 100 Leaders on West-Islam relations, which brings together heads of major global think tanks ranging from Oxford Islamic Centre at Oxford University to Strategic Foresight Group in India and Al-Azhar University in Egypt.

United States think tanks

Think tanks in the United States play an important role in forming both foreign and domestic policy. Typically, an issue such as national missile defense will be debated within and among think tanks and the result of these debates will influence government policy makers. Think tanks in the United States generally receive funding from private donors, and members of private organization think tanks may feel more free to propose and debate controversial ideas than people within government.

Modern neoconservatism is associated with some of the foreign policy initiatives of think tanks such as the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) and the Project for the New American Century (PNAC). The Heritage Foundation is a more traditional conservative policy think tank. On the other side of the political spectrum are think tanks such as the Institute for Policy Studies, the Progressive Policy Institute and the Center for American Progress. Economic Policy Institute is a prominent liberal think tank whose research emphasizes interests of low-income and middle-income workers. Other think tanks include Brookings Institution, a center-left organization, the Cato Institute, a libertarian or "free-market liberal" think tank, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a non-partisan foreign policy-oriented organization, and the Mises Institute, focusing on economic education. The Roosevelt Institution is pushing the think tank model by attempting to organize university and college student bodies into effective think tanks.

Though there are think tanks in every part of the political spectrum, conservative think tanks tend to have substantially more influence than their centrist and liberal/progressive counterparts. For example, the media watchdog group Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting released a report in 2006 which listed the 25 think tanks which were mentioned most often in the mainstream media news in 2005. The most-mentioned think tank was the centrist or center-left Brookings Institution. The next three most-mentioned think tanksare all conservative or conservative/libertarian. Of the top ten think tanks, none were listed as "progressive" by FAIR, while five were listed as "conservative" or "conservative/libertarian." [2]

Government think tanks are also important in the United States, particularly in the security and defense field. These include the Institute for National Strategic Studies, Institute for Homeland Security Studies, and the Center for Technology and National Security Policy, at the National Defense University; the Center for Naval Warfare Studies at the Naval War College and the Strategic Studies Institute at the U.S. Army War College.

A new type of think tank is evolving which is based solely on Internet ad hoc social networks. These new types of networks allow people a chance to try out their concepts for discussion without committing to large amounts of time. For some this new think tank format works well and many beginners enjoy such stimulus. Some of these more informal think tanks are privately run. Many of these forums are for anyone to participate, some for practice and accumulation of knowledge and others for entertainment value.

Chinese think tanks

In the People's Republic of China a number of think tanks are sponsored by governmental agencies but still retain sufficient non-official status to be able to propose and debate ideas more freely. Indeed, most of the actual diplomacy between China and the United States has taken the form of academic exchanges between members of think tanks.

European think tanks

In Britain, think tanks play a similar role to the United States, attempting to shape policy, and indeed there is some cooperation between British and American think tanks. Some of the major UK think tanks include Policy Exchange, the Institute for Public Policy Research, Demos, the Adam Smith Institute, the Centre for Policy Studies and the Centre for European Reform.

In Germany all of the major parties are loosely associated with research foundations that play some role in shaping policy, but generally from the more disinterested role of providing research to support policymakers than explicitly proposing policy. The foundations are:
*Associated with the CDU is the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (in German, the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung);
*The CSU is associated with the Hanns Seidel Foundation (Hanns-Seidel-Stiftung);
*The SPD is associated with the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung);
*The Free Democratic Party (Germany) is associated with the Friedrich Naumann Foundation (Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung);
*The Alliance '90/The Greens are associated with the Heinrich Böll Foundation (Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung);
*The Left Party is associated with the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation (Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung).

For a comprehensive list of German (and European) think tanks with information on organisation, funding, research areas and job opportunities visit the 'Think Tank Directory' [3]

In Switzerland, Avenir Suisse (which proposes a free-market liberalism agenda) is the only think tank in the sense of this article that is currently active.

In Denmark, The Copenhagen Institute (which is a libertarian/free-market) is the first think tank, founded in 2003. In 2004 the Liberal Think Tank CEPOS was founded by high-profile representatives of Danish academia, business, media and the arts.

In Spain, think tanks are starting to develop. Associations such as Club Nuevo Impulso are encouraging the participation of civil society in political life, but their influence over domestic and international policy is still insignificant. Former Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar presides over the Fundacion para el Analisis y los Estudios Sociales, a think tank that is associated with the Partido Popular

In Portugal , a very important think tank, is Compromisso Portugal, based on young entrepreneurs and academists aiming to contribute to the debate of ideas how to develop Portugal.

In Greece, the Panhellenic Socialist Movement(PASOK), is affiliated with the 'Institute of Developping Policies, Andreas Papandreou', ΙΣΤΑΜΕ.

After the fall of the Iron Curtain, Eastern Europe has seen a number of new think tanks arise, although they are still playing a relatively minor role in the forming of government policy.

Russian think tanks

Russian think tanks have experienced a precipitous decline over the past five years. Think tanks under the Soviet Union, analogous to their American counterparts, grew to play a significant role in strategic policy formation. During the era of glasnost, begun by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and continuing under Russian President Boris Yeltsin, public think tanks and policy organizations underwent a brief blooming. However, as economic problems intensified under Yeltsin, and political pressure on public organizations grew under President Vladimir Putin, most of the Russian think tanks have withered away while those who stood closer to Kremlin saw a recent revival.

Turkish think tanks

Think tanks in Turkey are relatively new business. Many of them are sister organisations of a political party or a company. University think tanks are not typical think tanks.

Turkish think tanks provide research and ideas yet they play less important roles in policy making when compared with the American think tanks.

The most important think tanks in Turkey:

T.E.S.E.V. (Istanbul)U.S.A.K. (Ankara)SETA (Ankara)A.S.A.M. (Ankara)TASAM (Istanbul)TUSAM (Ankara)

T.E.S.E.V. is a liberal research centre in Istanbul. Close to the business circles, yet less effective on political circles.

International Strategic Research Organization is an Ankara-centred Turkish think tank. Established in 2004. An umbrealla organization with 9 research centres. Liberal. Close to the Turkish diplomacy, military and political circles. Sponsored by the business people and member donations.

S.E.T.A. Established in 2006. Close to Government. Conservative.

A.S.A.M. Nationalist and militarist. Sponsored by the ultra-nationalist military circles. Close to the Army.

T.A.S.A.M. is Istanbul-centred. Conservative and nationalist.

TUSAM is Ankara centred. Leftist nationalist. Close to the ultra-nationalist military circles.

Australian think tanks

Most Australian think tanks are based at universities - for example, the Melbourne Institute or are government funded - for example, the Productivity Commission or the CSIRO.

There are also about 20-30 "independent" Australian think tanks, which are funded by private sources. The most well known of these are:
*The Australia Institute
*The Centre for Independent Studies
*The Institute of Public Affairs
*The Lowy Institute

Think tanks play much more limited role on Australian public and business policy making than in the United States. However, in the past decade the number of think tanks has increased substantially.

Iranian think tanks

Econotrend is an Iranian thinktank headed by Seyed Muhammad Adeli.

Criticism

Critics such as Ralph Nader have suggested that because of the private nature of the funding of think tanks their results are biased to a varying degree. Some argue members will be inclined to promote or publish only those results that ensure the continued flow of funds from private donors. This risk of distortion similarly threatens the reputation and integrity of organizations such as universities, once considered to stand wholly within the public sector.

Some critics go further to assert think tanks are little more than propaganda tools for promoting the ideological arguments of whatever group established them. They charge that most think tanks, which are usually headquartered in state or national seats of government, exist merely for large-scale lobbying to form opinion in favor of special private interests. They give examples such as organizations calling themselves think tanks having hosted lunches for politicians to present research that critics claim is merely in the political interest of major global interests such as Microsoft, but that the connections to these interests are never disclosed. They charge, as another example, that the RAND Corporation issues research reports on national missile defense that accelerate investment into the very military products being produced by the military manufacturers who control RAND. Critics assert that the status of most think-tanks as non-profit and tax exempt makes them an even more efficient tool to put special interest money to work.

In recent years, many think tanks have begun to promote causes which are contrary to established scientific opinion. For example, The Advancement of Sound Science Coalition was formed in the mid 1990s as part of the tobacco industry's attempt to cast doubt on EPA studies showing that secondhand smoke could cause cancer.[4] According to an internal memo from Philip Morris, "the credibility of the EPA is defeatable, but not on the basis of ETS (environmental tobacco smoke) alone. It must be part of a larger mosaic that concentrates all the EPA's enemies against it at one time." [5]

The Advancement of Sound Science Coalition has also worked to cast doubt on the scientific consensus regarding human-caused global warming, as have a number of conservative think tanks such as the American Enterprise Institute, the Heritage Foundation, the Cato Institute, the Hoover Institution, and the Competitive Enterprise Institute--all of whom receive large contributions from petroleum industry companies like ExxonMobil and the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation.[6][7][8][9][10][11][12]

Finally, the influential Discovery Institute has been instrumental in putting the idea of Intelligent design into public debate, even though most biologists do not accept the theory as scientific.[13][14][15]

Additional reading

*Goodman, John C. "What is a Think Tank?" National Center for Policy Analysis, 2005.[16]
*Abelson, Donald E. Do Think Tanks Matter? Assessing the Impact of Public Policy Institutes. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2002.
*Callahan, David. "The Think Tank As Flack, How Microsoft and other corporations use conservative policy groups," Washington Monthly (November 1999).[17]
*Richard Cockett, Thinking the unthinkable : think tanks and the economic counter revolution ; 1931 - 1983, London : Fontana, 1995
*Fan, Maureen. "Capital Brain Trust Puts Stamp on the World," Washington Post (16 May 2005): B01.[18]
*Patrick Dixon. Futurewise - Six Faces of Global Change - issues covered by Think Tanks and methodology for reviewing trends, impact on policy 2003): Profile Books
*Lakoff, George. Moral Politics: What Conservatives Know That Liberals Don't. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996.
*Kinau, Jacques. "Start Your Own Tax Exempt Think Tank: Effective Self-Defense Against Corporate and Political Donor Class Tax Predation" [19]
*Morgan, Dan. "Think Tanks: Corporations' Quiet Weapon," Washington Post (29 January 2001): A1.[20]
*Stone, Diane, and Andrew Denham, eds. Think Tank Traditions: Policy Research and the Politics of Ideas. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2004.

External links

*The Economist Magazine and NPR's Marketplace report: "Under the Influence: Think Tanks and The Money That Fuels Them"
*SourceWatch's definition of Think Tank
*NIRA's World Directory of Think Tanks
*Think Tank Directory: Directory of German think tanks (in German) and Think Tank Directory Europe with a list of European institutes with a specialisation in EU issues (in English)
*World Press Review Directory of Think-Tanks and NGOs
*iGoBeyond - An innovation community network of connected creative minds
*PBS' Think Tank with Ben Wattenberg: "Thinking About Think Tanks" - interview with Christopher DeMuth, President of AEI, October 13, 2005

Examples of think tanks:
*The Council on Foreign Relations, New York and Washington DC based, a foreign policy-making think tank
*The Fabian Society, London-based, left of centre think tank, associated with the United Kingdom Labour Party
*The Foreign Policy Centre, London-based think tank
*Globalisation Institute, an international development think tank
*The Roosevelt Institution, a student think tank based in the USA
*USAK, Ankara-based Turkish think tank
*[21], Tulane TANK, composed of highly touted law students
*Strategic Foresight Group, an India based think tank, working on global issues
*Captus, Swedish free-market think-tank
*CATO, a libertarian think-tank
*Tennessee Center for Policy Research, one of over 40 state-based free market think tanks in the United States.
*Knights of the North, a think tank of progressive Freemasons based in North America.
*Centre for the New Europe, Europe's leading Brussels-based free-market think tank

Think tank: Encyclopedia BETA

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