Think tanks

A think tank (also called a policy institute) is an organization, institute, corporation, or group that conducts research and engages in advocacy in public policy. Many think tanks are non-profit organizations, which some countries such as the United States and Canada provide with tax exempt status. While many think tanks are funded by governments, interest groups, or businesses, some think tanks also derive income from consulting or research work related to their mandate. In some cases, think tanks are little more than public relations fronts, usually headquartered in state or national seats of government and generating self-serving scholarship that serves the advocacy goals of their industry sponsors.

Of course, some think tanks are more legitimate than that. Private funding does not necessarily make a researcher a shill, and some think-tanks produce worthwhile public policy research. In general, however, research from think tanks is ideologically driven in accordance with the interests of its funders.

"We've got think tanks the way other towns have firehouses," Washington Post columnist Joel Achenbach says. "This is a thoughtful town. A friend of mine worked at a think tank temporarily and the director told him when he entered, 'We are white men between the ages of 50 and 55, and we have no place else to go.'"

"In 1970, Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell wrote a fateful memo to the National Chamber of Commerce saying that all of our best students are becoming anti-business because of the Vietnam War, and that we needed to do something about it. Powell's agenda included getting wealthy conservatives to set up professorships, setting up institutes on and off campus where intellectuals would write books from a conservative business perspective, and setting up think tanks. He outlined the whole thing in 1970. They set up the Heritage Foundation in 1973, and the Manhattan Institute after that. There are many others, including the American Enterprise Institute and the Hoover Institute at Stanford, which date from the 1940s." --George Lakoff

Think tanks are funded primarily by large businesses and major foundations. They devise and promote policies that shape the lives of everyday Americans: Social Security privatization, tax and investment laws, regulation of everything from oil to the Internet. They supply experts to testify on Capitol Hill, write articles for the op-ed pages of newspapers, and appear as TV commentators. They advise presidential aspirants and lead orientation seminars to train incoming members of Congress.

Think tanks may have a decided political leaning. There are twice as many conservative think tanks as liberal ones, and the conservative ones generally have more money. One of the important functions of think tanks is to provide a way for business interests to promote their ideas or to support economic and sociological research not taking place elsewhere that they feel may turn out in their favor. Conservative think tanks also offer donors an opportunity to support conservative policies outside academia, which during the 1960s and 1970s was accused of having a strong "collectivist" bias.

"Modern think tanks are nonprofit, tax-exempt, political idea factories where donations can be as big as the donor's checkbook and are seldom publicized," notes Tom Brazaitis, writing for the Cleveland Plain Dealer. "Technology companies give to think tanks that promote open access to the internet. Wall Street firms donate to think tanks that espouse private investment of retirement funds." So much money now flows in, that the top 20 conservative think tanks now spend more money than all of the "soft money" contributions to the Republican party.

In the wake of the re-election of George W. Bush in 2004 Democratic-inclined supporters sought to bolster funding for centre-left think tanks. "Scores of the US's richest people have pledged $1 million or more towards a new attempt to reinvigorate the American left and counter the powerful Republican political machine," writes David Teather in The GUardian (UK). "The money will be funnelled through an organisation called the Democracy Alliance which, according to a report in the Washington Post, will help fund a network of thinktanks and advocacy groups seeking to halt the shift to the cultural and political right." Democratic strategist Rob Stein, who organized the effort, thinks "there is a big imbalance in the amount of cash that goes into left and rightwing thinktanks. Over the past two years, he said, think tanks pushing the conservative agenda had received $295 million, while leftwing institutions were given just $75 million." 

A think tank's resident experts carry titles such as "senior fellow" or "adjunct scholar," but this does not necessarily mean that they possess an academic degree in their area of claimed expertise. Outside funding can corrupt the integrity of academic institutions. The same corrupting influences affect think tanks, only more so.

Think tanks are like universities minus the students and minus the systems of peer review and other mechanisms that academia uses to promote diversity of thought. Real academics are expected to conduct their research first and draw their conclusions second, but this process is often reversed at most policy-driven think tanks. As writer Jonathan Rowe has observed, the term "think" tanks is a misnomer. His comment was directed at the conservative Heritage Foundation, but it applies equally well to many other think tanks, regardless of ideology: "They don't think; they justify."

US Government
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 Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDC) is a special category of think tank. As described by the National Science Foundation, FFRDCs are "R&D-performing organizations that are exclusively or substantially financed by the Federal Government and are supported by the Federal Government either to meet a particular R&D objective or, in some instances, to provide major facilities at universities for research and associated training purposes. Each center is administered either by an industrial firm, a university, or another nonprofit institution." The government funds, wholly or in part, activities at approximately 30 Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs). FFRDCs typically assist government agencies with scientific research and analysis, systems development, and systems acquisition. They bring together the expertise and outlook of government, industry, and academia to solve complex technical problems. These FFRDCs include the RAND Corporation, the MITRE Corporation, the Institute for Defense Analyses, the Aerospace Corporation, the MIT Lincoln Laboratory, and other organizations supporting various departments within the U.S. Government.

The Department of Defense (DOD) sponsors ten FFRDCs, which are listed below with other North American think tanks. Many of these DOD FFRDCs, and the institutions that operate them, have used their privileged status, and tax dollars, to venture beyond their charters. Such ventures have incurred the wrath of the Professional Services Council (PSC), an association of for-profit consulting firms, which has fought the aggrandizement of FFRDCs since the early 1970s. PSC's task force on FFRDCs "is charged with the challenging task of containing [FFRDCs] and similar quasi-governmental entities that benefit from sole-source contracting or otherwise are subsidized unfairly by the federal government..." . The efforts have paid off, to some extent, in tighter controls on the funding of FFRDCs and the types of research they are allowed to undertake.

Similar to the above quasi-governmental organizations are Federal Advisory Committees. These groups, sometimes referred to as commissions, are a form of think tank dedicated to advising the US Presidents or the Executive branch of government. They typically focus on a specific issue and as such, might be considered similar to special interest groups. However, unlike special interest groups these committees have come under some oversight regulation and are required to make formal records available to the public. Approximately 1,000 these advisory committees are described in the FACA searchable database.

Global examples

 * Club of Rome
 * Global Business Dialogue on e-Commerce/GBDe
 * International Crisis Group
 * World Business Council on Sustainable Development/WBCSD

US Examples

 * Accuracy in Media
 * The Advancement of Sound Science Coalition
 * Aerospace FFRDC at The Aerospace Corp.
 * Air Hygiene Foundation
 * Alexis de Tocqueville Institution
 * American Academy in Berlin
 * American Academy in Rome
 * American Academy of Diplomacy, The
 * American Beverage Institute
 * American Council for Capital Formation
 * American Council on Germany
 * American Council on Science and Health
 * The American Councils on Foreign Relations
 * American Defense International
 * American Ditchley Foundation
 * American Enterprise Institute
 * American Eugenics Society
 * American Family Foundation
 * American Foreign Policy Council
 * American Industrial Health Council
 * American Jewish Council
 * American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)
 * American Life League
 * American Majority Institute
 * American Petroleum Institute
 * American Policy Center
 * American Security Council
 * ANSER Institute for Homeland Security
 * Ariel Center for Policy Research
 * Arroyo Center (FFRDC) at RAND Corp.
 * Atlantic Council of the United States
 * Atlantic Institute / Atlantic Institute of International Affairs
 * Aspen Institute / Aspen Strategy Group
 * Baker Institute for Public Policy
 * Bilderberg
 * Morton Blackwell Leadership Institute
 * Brookings Institution
 * The Business Council
 * Business Council for Sustainable Development
 * C3I FFRDC at MITRE Corp.
 * Campaign Finance Institute
 * Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
 * Capital Research Center
 * Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
 * Carter Center
 * Catalyst Institute
 * Cato Institute
 * Center for American Progress
 * Center for an Urban Future
 * Center for Civilian Biodefense Strategies
 * Center for Consumer Freedom
 * Center for Defense Information
 * Center for Democracy
 * Center for Digital Democracy
 * Center for Environmental Education Research
 * Center for Global Development
 * Center for Governmental Studies
 * Center for International Policy
 * Center for Jewish and Christian Values
 * Center for Middle East Policy at Hudson Institute
 * Center for Middle East Public Policy (CMEPP); RAND Corporation
 * Center for National Policy
 * Center for Naval Analyses (FFRDC) at The CNA Corp.
 * Center for New American Century
 * Center for Peace and Security Studies
 * Center for Regulatory Effectiveness
 * Center for Research on Population and Security
 * Center for Responsible Nanotechnology
 * Center for Responsive Politics
 * Center for Security Policy
 * Center for State Homeland Security
 * Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments[www.csbaonline.org]
 * Center for Strategic and International Studies
 * Center for the American Founding
 * Center for the New West
 * Center for the Study of Terrorism
 * Center for the Study of the Presidency
 * Center for Vision & Values[www.visionandvalues.org]
 * Center for The 21st Century
 * Center of International Studies, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs
 * Century Foundation (The); formerly The Twentieth Century Fund
 * Chicago Council on Foreign Relations
 * Christian Coalition of America
 * Citizens for a Sound Economy
 * Claremont Institute for the Study of Statesmanship and Political Philosophy
 * Climate Council
 * Commonwealth Institute
 * Competitive Enterprise Institute
 * Concord Coalition
 * Conference Board
 * Congressional Institute
 * Consumer Alert
 * Consumers' Research
 * Contributions Watch
 * Core Knowledge Foundation
 * Corporate Europe Observatory
 * Council for Government Reform
 * Council for National Policy
 * Council for Responsible Nutrition
 * Council for Solid Waste Solutions
 * Council for Tobacco Research
 * Council of American Muslims for Understanding
 * The Council on American-Islamic Relations
 * Council on Foreign Relations
 * Council on Middle Eastern Affairs
 * Council on the Americas
 * East-West Center
 * Economic Club of New York
 * Economic Strategy Institute
 * Employment Policy Foundation
 * Employment Policies Institute
 * Empower America
 * Environmental Issues Council
 * Ethics and Public Policy Center
 * Fairness &amp; Accuracy in Reporting
 * Federation of American Scientists
 * Feminist Majority Foundation
 * Foreign Policy Association
 * Foundation for Clean Air Progress
 * The Foundation for the Defense of Democracies
 * Foundation for Research on Economics and the Environment
 * Free Congress Education and Research Foundation
 * Free Congress Foundation
 * Freedom Forum
 * Freedom House, Inc.
 * Frontiers of Freedom
 * George C. Marshall Institute
 * Global Action Plan
 * Global Climate Coalition
 * Global Climate Information Project
 * Global Compact Partners
 * Goldwater Institute
 * Gorbachev Foundation of North America
 * Greening Earth Society
 * Healthcare Leadership Council
 * Heartland Institute
 * Heritage Foundation
 * Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace
 * Hudson Institute
 * Independent Institute
 * Independent Women's Forum
 * Information Council for the Environment
 * Institue Économique de Montéal
 * Institute for Advanced Studies / Princeton
 * Institute for Advanced Strategic & Political Studies
 * Institute for American Strategy
 * Institute for Contemporary Studies
 * Institute for Defense Analyses - Communications and Computing FFRDC
 * Institute for Defense Analyses - Studies and Analysis FFRDC
 * Institute for International Economics
 * Institute for Middle East Peace and Development
 * Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy
 * Institute for Regulatory Policy
 * Institute of Economic Affairs
 * Institute of World Politics
 * Inter-American Dialogue
 * International Fellowship of Christians and Jews
 * International Food Information Council
 * International Institute for Strategic Studies
 * International Intellectual Property Institute
 * Iran Policy Committee
 * Israel Policy Forum
 * Japan Policy Research Institute
 * The Jerusalem Fund for Education and Community Development
 * Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs
 * John M. Olin Institute for Strategic Studies
 * Joint Center
 * Lexington Institute
 * Lincoln Laboratory (FFRDC) at M.I.T.
 * Logistics Management Institute
 * Ludwig von Mises Institute
 * Manhattan Committee on Foreign Relations
 * Manhattan Institute for Policy Research
 * George C. Marshall Institute
 * McKinsey Global Institute
 * MEMRI: Middle East Media Research Institute
 * Middle East Forum
 * The Middle East Institute, School of International and Public Affairs/Columbia University
 * Middle East Policy Council
 * Mountain States Legal Foundation
 * National Anxiety Center
 * National Bureau of Economic Research
 * National Center for Policy Analysis
 * National Center for Privatization
 * National Center for Public Policy Research
 * National Council Against Health Fraud
 * National Council on Sustainable Development
 * National Defense Research Institute (FFRDC) at RAND Corp.
 * National Democratic Institute
 * National Democratic Institute for International Affairs
 * National Environmental Policy Institute
 * National Institute for Public Policy
 * National Journalism Center
 * National Resources Defense Council
 * National Strategy Information Center
 * National Urban League
 * National Wilderness Institute
 * New America Foundation
 * New Atlantic Initiative
 * New Citizenship Project
 * New World Foundation
 * Nixon Center
 * North Florida Committee on Foreign Relations
 * Nuclear Threat Initiative
 * Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine
 * Pacific Institute
 * Pacific Research Institute
 * Panetta Institute for Public Policy
 * Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University
 * Peacekeeping Institute
 * PeaceNow.org
 * People for the American Way
 * Pew Global Attitudes Project
 * Philanthropy Roundtable
 * Pioneer Institute for Public Policy Research
 * Political Economy Research Center
 * Potomac Institute on Public Policy
 * Power and Interest News Report
 * Private Sector Council
 * Progress & Freedom Foundation
 * Progressive Government Institute
 * Progressive Policy Institute
 * Project Air Force (FFRDC) at RAND Corp.
 * Project on Defense Alternatives
 * Project for the New American Century
 * Property and Environment Research Center (formerly known as the Political Economy Research Center)
 * Pulse of Europe
 * RAND Corporation
 * Reason, Inc.
 * The Reason Foundation
 * Regulatory Impact Analysis Project, Inc.
 * Rockridge Institute
 * Rocky Mountain Institute
 * Ronald Reagan Legacy Project
 * The Roosevelt Institution
 * Saudi Institute/Saudi Information Agency
 * Science and Environmental Policy Institute
 * Small Business Survival Committee
 * Software Engineering Institute (FFRDC) at Carnegie Mellon University
 * Southern Poverty Law Center
 * Southern Research Institute
 * Stanley Foundation
 * StateofHumanity.org-
 * Statistical Assessment Service
 * Synergos Institute
 * United States Institute of Peace/U.S. Institute of Peace
 * Urban Institute
 * US-India Institute for Strategic Policy
 * The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
 * The Washington Institute for Values in Public Policy
 * Washington Legal Foundation
 * Weatherhead Center for International Affairs (WCFIA), Harvard University
 * Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
 * World Affairs Council, Washington, DC
 * World Economic Forum
 * World Water Council
 * Workplace Health & Safety Council
 * Yankee Institute for Public Policy
 * Zionist Organization of America

Canadian Examples

 * Atlantic Institute for Market Studies
 * Canadian Association for Security and Intelligence Studies
 * The Centre for International Governance Innovation
 * The Fraser Institute
 * Frontier Centre for Public Policy

UK Examples

 * Adam Smith Institute
 * Asia-Pacific Foundation
 * The Bow Group
 * Catalyst (think tank)
 * Catalyst
 * Centre for European Reform
 * Centre for Policy Studies
 * Centre for Reform
 * Civitas
 * Crime and Society Foundation
 * Demos
 * Fabian Society
 * Forum for the Future
 * Foreign Policy Centre
 * Institute of Economic Affairs
 * Institute for Fiscal Studies
 * Institute of Ideas
 * International Institute for Strategic Studies
 * Institute for Public Policy Research
 * Labour Left
 * Localis
 * mi2g
 * New Economics Foundation
 * New Local Government Network
 * New Frontiers Foundation
 * New Health Network
 * New Politics Network
 * Policy Exchange
 * Politeia
 * Reform
 * Relationships Foundation
 * Royal Institute for International Affairs
 * Royal United Services Institute for Defence Studies
 * The Scientific Alliance
 * Social Affairs Unit
 * Social Issues Research Centre
 * Social Market Foundation
 * Tavistock Institute for Human Behavior
 * The Work Foundation
 * Young Fabians
 * Young Foundation

Scottish Examples

 * The Centre for the Study of Public Policy
 * The Centre for Scottish Public Policy
 * Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence
 * David Hume Institute
 * The International Futures Forum
 * The John Wheatley Centre
 * The Policy Institute
 * The Scottish Council Foundation

European Examples

 * Afidora
 * Brussels European and Global Economic Laboratory
 * Centre for the New Europe
 * Civita
 * Club des Vigilants
 * Copenhagen Institute
 * Economic and Social Research Institute
 * European Science and Environment Forum
 * Edmund Burke Foundation
 * Studienzentrum Weikersheim
 * Federation of European Employers
 * Globalisation Institute
 * Instytut Sobieskiego
 * Istituto Bruno Leoni
 * Libres
 * Madariaga European Foundation
 * Open Republic Institute
 * Real Instituto Elcano
 * Center for Social and Economic Research (CASE)
 * Timbro
 * US Matters Club (Poland)

Denmark

 * Economic Council of the Labour Movement
 * Center for Politiske Studier
 * The Danish Council of Ethics
 * The Danish National Centre for Social Research

Australian Examples
(See also Think Tanks/Australia)
 * African Think Tank
 * Australia Institute
 * Australians All
 * Australian APEC Study Centre
 * Australian Business Foundation
 * Australian Fabian Society
 * Asia Institute
 * Brisbane Institute
 * Committee for Economic Development of Australia
 * Centre for Independent Studies
 * Centre for Policy Development
 * Chifley Research Centre
 * Eidos Institute
 * Evatt Foundation
 * Institute for Private Enterprise
 * Institute of Public Affairs
 * Lowy Institute
 * Melbourne Institute
 * Menzies Research Centre
 * Network Insight Institute
 * OzProspect
 * Page Research Centre
 * Per Capita
 * Sydney Institute
 * The Natural Edge Project
 * World Growth

Books

 * Think Tank Directory: A Guide to Independent Nonprofit Public Policy Research Organizations, Government Research Service, 2nd Edition, 2006. Profiles of over 1,100 think tanks in Washington, D.C. and the 50 states.
 * Alex Carey, "Taking the risk out of democracy: Propaganda in the US and Australia", NSW Press/ Illinois Press, 1995.
 * Jacques Kinau, ''Start Your Own Tax-Exempt Think Tank : Effective Self-Defense Against Corporate and Political Donor Class Tax Predation, Institute for Research, May 2005. ISBN 0976443708
 * James A. Smith, Idea Brokers : Think Tanks And The Rise Of The New Policy Elite, Free Press, Reprint November 1993. ISBN 0029295556
 * Richard Cockett, Thinking the unthinkable: think-tanks and the economic counter-revolution, 1931-1983, Fontana Press, London, 1994. ISBN: 0006375863
 * David M. Ricci, The Transformation of American Politics: The New Washington and the Rise of Think Tanks, Yale University Press, August 1994. ISBN 0300061234
 * Jean Stefaniac and Richard Delgado, No mercy: how conservative think tanks and foundations changed America's social agenda, Temple University Press, Philadelphia, 1996. ISBN 1566394694
 * James G. McGann and R. Kent Weaver, Think Tanks & Civil Societies: Catalysts for Ideas and Action, Transaction Publishers, November 2002. ISBN 0765809524
 * Donald E. Abelson, Do think tanks matter?: assessing the impact of public policy pnstitutes, McGill-Queens University Press, Montreal & Kingston, 2002. ISBN 0773523170
 * Andrew Rich, Think Tanks, Public Policy, and the Politics of Expertise, Cambridge University Press, April 2004. ISBN 052183029X

Other Related SourceWatch Resources

 * academics, scholarly authors
 * Funders
 * Tax-exempt foundations
 * talk radio
 * Think Tanks:Quick Reference A-C
 * Think Tanks:Quick Reference D-M
 * Think Tanks:Quick Reference N-Z
 * Think Tanks/Australia
 * Think Tanks/Researching think tanks

Think Tank research links

 * Think Tank Explosion: Growth of the Independent Think Tank Industry in the United States - Short white paper charting the dramatic increase in the number of independent U.S. think tanks since the end of World War II.
 * Think Tanks and Policy Centers at Lehman Social Sciences Library, Columbia University.
 * National Institute for Research Advancement internet search.
 * Heritage Foundation Database for Public Policy Experts and Public Policy Organizations.
 * International List of Think Tank links, National Institute for Research Advancement
 * Statistics of Think Tank Citations
 * Schema-Root.org: Think Tanks 140+ cross-referenced newsfeeds related to Think Tanks