G20 Think Tanks Moving Up Global Think Tank Index

Since its founding in 1989 a the Foreign Policy Institute in Philadelphia, the Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program (TTCSP)—now located at the University of Pennsylvania—has developed a series of global initiatives to bridge the gap between knowledge and policy in critical disciplines such as international peace and security, globalization and governance, international economics, the environment, and health. Today, it maintains a database of over 6,800 think tanks in 152 countries, which it uses to track key trends in policy research organizations.

In 2006, the program presented the first Global Go-To Think Tank Index, a set of rankings of the world’s top think tanks in a number of functional and geographic categories. The rankings are generated by means of a three-stage process in which an international panel of peers and experts, including over 1500 policymakers, journalists, parliamentarians, public and private donors, and think tank executives and scholars from 120 countries who provide nominations and rankings of think tanks in each category. In the 2011 edition of the Index, think tanks from approximately 125 countries received enough nominations in the first round to be included in the rankings. All in all, over 11,750 nominations for think tanks in all of the 31 categories were received.

The value of the Index lies in its ability to highlight the important contributions that think tanks make to governments and civil societies around the world, especially in traditionally underrepresented regions such as Africa, Southeast Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. With this goal in mind, the 2011 Index seeks to highlight the growing importance of think tanks in states with traditionally less international power and influence. Due to the growth in the number and influence of think tanks outside the traditionally preeminent countries in academic and policy research, this year’s index focuses more specifically on the increasing role of G20 member states that are not in the G7. Historically, Western nations have been disproportionally represented in the top tier of the Index. In 2010, 20 out of the top 25 think tanks worldwide (including the United States) were based in G20 countries, out of which 19 also belonged to the G7.

Altogether, the G20 represents two-thirds of the world's population and 80 percent of global trade. The group meets once a year to discuss a wide range of economic issues, including international growth policies, financial market regulation, counter-terrorist measures, and financial crisis recovery. Although not formally linked to any of the think tanks included in the Global Go-To Report, many of the global economic solutions discussed in G20 meetings draw upon research done by these organizations, in addition to research conducted by the group’s members.

Every year, the categories included in the Index are revised in order to generate the most relevant and up-to-date analysis. For the 2011 Index, the category “Best Think Tank with an Annual Operating Budget of Less Than $5 Million” was added in order to highlight the rise to prominence of think tanks that lie within the G20 but are outside of the traditionally dominant G7.

Despite efforts to highlight institutions from non-G7 countries, Canada’s North-South Institute ranks first in the 2011 category “Best Think Tank with an Annual Operating Budget of Less than $5 Million.” The Institute’s budget of slightly over $3 million is derived largely from two substantial annual government grants—one from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), and the other from the International Development Research Centre. The dominance of a G7 think tank even in this category, which is intended to recognize non-G7 think tanks is noteworthy, but it is important to point out that a number of G20-based organizations were acknowledged for their efficacy despite limited budgets. Top non-G7 think tanks in this category include South Africa's Economic Policy Research Center, Argentina’s Consejo Argentino de Relaciones Internacionales, India’s Integrated Research and Action for Development, China’s Unirule Institute of Economics, and Brazil’s two representatives, Centro Brasiliero de Relacaoes Internacionais and the USP Research Center for Public Policy. These organizations research a variety of global issues, ranging from energy and climate change to urban infrastructure and poverty alleviation. Despite their recognition in this category, of the top G20 think tanks with annual operating budgets of less than $5 million listed above, none were included in the 2010 Top 25 Think Tanks Worldwide. The addition of this category serves to recognize the important contributions that smaller organizations provide to the global policy research environment.

In Brazil, India, China, Russia, and South Africa—the large developing BRICS countries, the number of think tanks more than doubled between 2008 and 2011 from 419 to 985. Brazil and India’s think tank numbers doubled, while Russia and South Africa saw only incremental increases. Despite the large increase in think tank numbers in BRICS countries, only the Academy of Social Sciences in China was represented among 2010's Top 25 Global Think Tanks. That is to say that an increase in numbers of non-G7 think tanks does not necessarily imply an increase in recognition of influence in the global realm of think tanks.

Regionally and thematically, however, think tanks in BRICS states have been noted for their exemplary work. The top think tank in the 2010 Latin America and the Caribbean category was Fundacao Getulio Vargas, which made a rapid rise to the top from its seventh place rank in 2008. This think tank, located in Rio de Janeiro, has research programs that focus on economics, law, business, society and politics, and education, categories in which it has also received top honors. In 2010, it was ranked in the “Top 50 Think Tanks Worldwide—Non-U.S.” In 2010, Fundacao Getulio Vargas was often accompanied by fellow Brazilian think tank Centro Brasileiro de Relacoes Internacionais, which was also ranked in “Top 50 Think Tanks Worldwide—Non-U.S.” and “Top 25 Think Tanks in Latin America,” where it was ranked third. In the Latin American region, the second place think tank in 2010 was Centro de Estudios Publicos, located in Chile, which is not included in the G20 or BRICS group. As discussed above, two Brazilian think tanks have received recognition so far in 2011 in the category of “Best Think Tanks with an Annual Operating Budget of Less than $5 Million” top ranked 2010 think tanks Centro Brasileiro de Relacaoes Internacionais and 2011 newcomer to TTCSP, the University of Sao Paulo USP Research Center for Public Policy.

Think tanks based in South Africa, a BRICS country, have long been dominant in the category that ranks Sub-Saharan African think tanks. Notably, South Africa is the only country on the African continent that is a member of the G20. In 2010, South African think tanks represented all seven of the top seven think tanks in the region, though the rest of the “Top 25 Think Tanks in Sub-Saharan Africa” list was comprised of think tanks from a variety of non-G20 countries on the continent. The 2010 dominance of South African think tanks in Sub-Saharan Africa is not new. Though there has been some movement in the think tanks that achieve top honors in the category, seven of the top 10 think tanks in 2008’s “Top 25 Think Tanks in Sub-Saharan Africa” were located in South Africa.

Russia has experienced the slowest growth in think tank development among the BRICS countries, growing from 107 to 121 think tanks between 2008 and 2011. The most frequently cited Russian think tank is the Carnegie Moscow Center, which was ranked the top think tank in the “Top 25 Think Tanks in Central or Eastern Europe” category, as well as the “Top 50 Think Tanks Worldwide—Non-U.S.” category. Additionally, its university-affiliated think tank, the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO), was noted in 2010 for its exemplary work in the Central and Eastern Europe category as was the government-affiliated think tank Institute of World Economy and International Relations (IMEMO). Although Russian think tanks have received regional and affiliation-based recognition, the absence of Russian think tanks in other categories indicates that they continue to lack impact on a global policy level, particularly in environmental policy and, like China, in research on health policy and transparency and good governance. As in China and India, think tanks in Russia have not received recognition for using the Internet or social media to engage the public and communicate programs and research outside of the institution.

Indian think tanks, whose presence in the rankings increased in number by over 100 percent between 2008 and 2011, have historically received few nominations in any categories of the Global Go-To Think Tank Index. In fact, only four Indian think tanks were included in 2008’s Index, and even these were only in the “Top 25 Think Tanks in Asia” category. Similar to South Africa, since 2008 Indian think tanks have been recognized in other categories, including 2010 rankings in the categories of “Top 25 International Economic Think Tanks,” “Top 20 Transparency and Good Governance Think Tanks,” “Top 25 Think Tanks with the Most Innovative Policy Ideas and Proposals,” and “Best Government Affiliated Think Tanks.” Unlike South Africa though, there has also been an increase in the number of think tanks included in the Index, from four to nine. The most highly and commonly ranked Indian think tank is the Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses, which has been included consistently since 2008 as one of the world’s top think tanks. The preeminence of this government-affiliated think tank indicates that the Indian government sees security research as a high priority. Additionally, Indian think tanks appear to have increased their efforts to address a number of pressing environmental concerns, including resource management, climate change, and ecosystem preservation. Interestingly, despite the pervasive poverty throughout India, development and domestic economic policies have not been shown to be a priority for Indian think tanks. Such organizations received minimal attention in “Best Think Tank with an Annual Operating Budget of Less Than $5 Million,” in which only one Indian think tank, Integrated Research and Action for Development, has been nominated for the 2011 Index.

Chinese think tanks are increasing their prominence in the Asian category where they have traditionally competed for Asian recognition with their G7 Japanese counterparts. With more than 425 think tanks within its borders, China has the second-most think tanks in the world—coming in behind the United States alone. As one might expect, Chinese think tanks received more nominations than think tanks from any other Asian country in the “Top Twenty Asian Think Tanks” category in the 2010 Index, with one fifth of the 25 ranked think tanks being Chinese, including the top-ranked institution, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. The Academy was also the only G20 but non-G7 think tank to be included in the “Top 25 Think Tanks Worldwide—U.S. and Non-U.S.” category. Additionally, in 2010, Chinese think tanks were dominant among think tanks in the G20 countries, especially in the categories of “Security and International Affairs” and “Domestic Economic Policy.” None were featured in any of the policy-specific lists in 2008, but this changed in 2010 when China’s Institute of World Economics and Politics was ranked in the “Top 25 International Economic Policy Think Tanks” category.

In general, Chinese think tanks have received regional recognition in the “Top 25 Think Tanks in Asia” category, and have claimed four spots in the “Best Government-Affiliated Think Tanks” category and one in the “Best Party-Affiliated Think Tanks” category. Chinese think tanks’ near universal government affiliation may help to explain their dominance in policy research on domestic issues due to the additional government funding they receive on programs of particular national interest, such as domestic economics. Still, it is important to note that Chinese think tanks received relatively few nominations in the “Social Policy,” “Health Policy,” and “Transparency and Good Governance” categories, indicating that the research and policy focus in China remains on economics and security, with some increasing prioritization placed upon environmental issues, perhaps due in part to recent international criticism of Chinese environmental policy.

The remainder of the G20 countries (excluding G7 members and BRICS states)—Argentina, Australia, Indonesia, Mexico, the Republic of Korea, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey—have also enjoyed an increase in the number of their think tanks in the Index between 2008 and 2011, though this increase has been less notable than in the BRICS countries.

In 2008, the group had a combined 278 think tanks in the index, compared to 314 in 2011. Regardless of this increase in numbers, global recognition of think tanks in these countries is lacking. In fact, no think tanks from any of these seven countries were included in the 2010 “Top 25 Think Tanks Worldwide–U.S. and Non-U.S.” category, though three such think tanks were included in the “Top 50 Think Tanks Worldwide–Non-U.S.” category: the Lowy Institute for International Policy and the Center for Independent Studies—both in Australia—and the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Indonesia. Traditionally the BRICS countries have been thought to be dominant in the G20 outside the G7 category, but the 2010 Global Go-To Think Tank Index’s repeated recognition of prestigious think tanks such as the Lowy Institute, Centro de Análisis e Investigación (FUNDAR) in Mexico, Fundación Pensar in Argentina, and the Korea Development Institute in the Republic of Korea, challenge this reputation for BRICS states’ dominance. These think tanks have made significant contributions to transparency and governance, international development, and security research in particular.

Despite the increasing presence of think tanks which are in non-G7, G20 member states, the two countries in this category in the Middle East and North Africa region have historically been notably absent from the Index—and it appears that 2011’s Rankings will be no exception to that rule. Very few think tanks emerged in Turkey and Saudi Arabia between 2008 and 2011 (the number of think tanks in Turkey increased from 21 to 27 and in Saudi Arabia from three to four think tanks over this period). In 2010, no Saudi think tanks were ranked in any category and just three Turkish think tanks were ranked in two categories, “Top 25 Think Tanks in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA)” and “Best External Relations/Public Engagement Program.” At the very least, the think tanks’ recognition in these thematic categories indicates the global reach of their work.

The trend of a growing number of think tanks in G20 nations outside the G7 is remarkable given the traditional dominance of Western European and American think tanks. Although they still have significant progress to make before reaching parity with the traditionally preeminent think tanks of the G7, think tanks throughout the G20 have made considerable advances in the Global Go-To Think Tank Index, particularly in the fields of economics, security and international development. Based on the current rankings, think tanks outside of the United States and Western Europe will be increasingly important to future international policy research and policy making.

Selected Top Think Tanks for 2011

Top 10 Think Tanks: U.S.

• Brookings Institution (BI)

• Council on Foreign Relations (CFR)
• Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP)
• Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
• RAND Corporation (RAND)
• Cato Institute
• Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (WWICS)
• Heritage Foundation (HI)
• American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research (AEI)
• Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE)
• Hoover Institution (HI)
• Center for International Development (CID)
• Harvard University National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)
• Pew Research Center (PRC)
• Center for American Progress (CAP)

Top 15 Think Tanks: Non-U.S.

• The Royal Institute of International Affairs, Chatham House (CH) (United Kingdom)

• Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) (Sweden)
• Amnesty International (AI) (United Kingdom)
• International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) (United Kingdom)
• Transparency International (TI) (Germany)
• Center for European Policy Studies (CEPS) (Belgium)
• International Crisis Group (ICG) (Belgium)
• Adam Smith Institute (ASI) (United Kingdom)
• Bruegel (Belgium)
• European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) (United Kingdom)
• Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES) (Germany)
• French Institute for International Relations (IFRI) (France)
• Carnegie Moscow Center (CMC) (Russia)
• Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) (China)
• Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP) - German Institute for International and Security Affairs (Germany)

Top Think Tanks: Asia

• Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) (China)

• Japan Institute of International Affairs (JIIA) (Japan)
• Institute of Policy Studies (IPS), Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, (Singapore)
• Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) (Indonesia)
• China Institutes for Contemporary International Relations (CICIR) (China)

Top Thinks Tanks: Africa

• South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA) (South Africa)

• Centre for Conflict Resolution (South Africa)
• Conseil Pour le Developpement de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales (CODESRIA) (Senegal)
• African Economic Research Consortium (Kenya)
• Institute for Security Studies (ISS) (South Africa)

Top Think Tanks: Central and South America

• Fundacao Getulio Vargas (Brazil)

• Centro de Estudios Publicos (CEP) (Chile)
• Consejo Argentino para las Relaciones Internacionales (CARI) (Argentina)
• Fedesarrollo, (Colombia)
• Centro de Implementacion de Politicas Publicas para la Equidad y el Crecimiento (CIPPEC) (Argentina)

Top Think Tanks: Mexico, Canada, and the Caribbean

• Fraser Institute (Canada)

• International Development Research Center (IDRC) (Canada)
• Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) (Canada)
• International Institute for Sustainable Development (Canada)
• Consejo Mexicano de Asuntos Internacionales (COMEXI) (Mexico)

Top Think Tanks: Middle East and North Africa (MENA)

• Brookings Doha Center (Qatar)

• Carnegie Middle East Center (Lebanon)
• Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies (Egypt)
• Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) (Israel)
• Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV) (Turkey)

Top Think Tanks: Eastern and Central Europe

• Carnegie Moscow Center (Russia)

• Open Society Institute (Hungary)
• Polish Institute of International Affairs (PISM) (Poland)
• Center for Social and Economic Research (CASE) (Poland)
• Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) (Russia)

Top Think Tanks: Western Europe

• Chatham House (The Royal Institute of International Affairs) (United Kingdom)

• Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) (Sweden)
• Center for European Policy Studies (CEPS) (Belgium)
• French Institute for International Relations (IFRI) (France)
• International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) (United Kingdom)

Top New Thinks Tanks

• Google Ideas (United States/United Kingdom)

• Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET) (United States)

This article was originally published in the Diplomatic Courier's January 2012 issue.