In an age where the power of a computer chip doubles at least every 18 months, where the average young adult is training for jobs that do not yet exist, and where flying halfway around the world requires less than a day, the resulting surge of new information often raises more questions than it answers. In this increasingly complex, independent, and information-rich world, governments and individual policy makers face the common problem of bringing expert knowledge to bear in governmental decision-making. In response, although initially behind the wave of globalization, growth of public policy research organizations, or think tanks, over the last few decades has been nothing less than explosive. Not only have these organizations increased in number, but the scope and impact of their work has also expanded dramatically at the national, regional and global level. Twenty years ago, when the first global meeting of think tanks in Barcelona, Spain was organized, many of my colleagues suggested that the term “think tank” did not travel well across borders; but today, the term has become an accepted transnational concept.
Think Tanks are research, analysis, and engagement institutions that generate policy advice on domestic and international issues, enabling policymakers to make informed decisions and bridging the gap between the government and the public at large. In simpler terms, think tanks serve as “go-to” institutions when experts on particular topics are needed to provide analysis or commentary on the breaking news of the day. While these organizations are classified in one of the following categories: for profit, autonomous and independent, quasi independent, university affiliated, political party affiliated, quasi-governmental, or governmental, a finer line gets drawn when separating internationally oriented think tanks with a domestic focus from those that are truly global or transnational. Being a global think tank requires many of the same features as multi-national corporations including established operational centers in two or more continents that are linked by a shared mission, programs and operations including field offices with local staff and scholars, product offerings to a global audience, and a variety of international funding sources. International does not necessarily mean global. Many think tanks conduct research on international issues, but they are not global think tanks. To be a global institution, a think tank must operate on two or more continents and have networked global operations. Some think tanks are regional or merely transnational, meaning they operate in two or more states. When we use these parameters, there are just a dozen or so think tanks that are global and a slightly larger number that are transnational. But the numbers are growing--think tanks have finally gone global. If we count both global and transnational organizations, there are now approximately 60 think tanks that have cross-border operations (see Global Think Tanks, Policy Networks and Governance, McGann 2011 for a more detailed discussion).
One of the most successful think tanks to employ a truly global strategy is the International Crisis Group (ICG). The ICG has field offices around the world, staff representing 50 nationalities and 47 languages, and 45% of its funding coming from governments of 22 different countries. The ICG, however, is not alone in its endeavor. The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP) has set goals and has already come a long way in terms of global operations with the opening of its 5th office in Brussels. Think tanks can go global in other ways as well. The Brookings Institute (BI) and RAND have operational centers outside the US and have expanded their brands globally through the internet, collaborative projects, and scholar exchanges. BI has made a big investment in its website since 2006, also adding select content in Arabic, Chinese and Spanish. The impact is clear. Today, about 1/3 of the visitors to BI's site are from outside of the United States. A third approach is the franchise model where a think tank will transfer its name, strategy, structure, philosophy to groups operating in other countries. The German political foundations have created what I would describe as political party think tank franchises around the globe. Think tanks around the world are clearly globalizing, multiplying, and increasing in importance. There are currently 6480 think tanks in the world, 57% of which are based in North America and Western Europe. But, this scene is dramatically changing year by year. The greatest surge in the number of think tanks being established is taking place in Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
Primary reasons for the dramatic growth of think tanks around the world are: democratization, globalization, and modernization. Democratization inspires demands for analysis and information independent of government influence. It also allows for a more open debate about government decision-making, which is an environment in which think tanks thrive. In addition, think tanks can no longer be arm chair analysts sitting in Brussels, Paris or Washington; they must be in country and on the ground covering the issues if they want to have credibility and influence on the major issues of the day. The growth of international actors and the pressures of globalization have led many think tanks to expand their operations globally. Both the ICG and the CEIP cite the end of the Cold War and the emergence of United States supremacy as inspiration for going global. Others, such as Brookings and the German Marshall Fund, use modernization and advances in technology/communications to pragmatically globalize for added convenience.
The impact of this shift is still slowly being revealed among governments and the policy community, but there is undoubtedly a large potential for positive global policy impact. Global think tanks have the opportunity to provide a constructive forum for the exchange of information between key stakeholders, or a “neutral space” for debate. In a globalizing, fast-paced, information-rich world, think tanks can also provide important field research and efficient, quality responses to time-sensitive foreign policy problems. The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace attempts to fill this role by having offices in Moscow, Beirut, Beijing and Brussels each specializing in regionally important security issues. Additionally, when think tanks become global and form networks, it is more likely that they will pool their efforts and aggregate resources to accomplish these goals. Some issues like carbon emissions, health care, and financial systems are inherently global because they require cross-national coordination and may only take second place to domestic issues and agendas within any individual country.
Think tanks are not necessarily passive research organizations. Some have taken quite an active role when it comes to lobbying for or articulating and implementing policy in distinct areas. They are contractors, trainers, and media outlets. The International Peace Institute, for example, trains military and civilian professionals in peacekeeping strategies. And, Brookings’ Internally Displaced Persons project, operating under the auspices of the UN in partnership with the London School of Economics, seeks to help populations uprooted by violent conflict and civil unrest. Furthermore, with the decline of foreign news bureaus, global think tanks like ICG and CIPE are increasingly becoming an important and reliable international news source. This is in sharp contrast to the days when think tank scholars would sit in their “universities without students” and come up with great ideas, and policy-makers would beat a path to their door to seek their advice.
With such a broad range of functions, the global think tank of tomorrow will continue to gain in importance. But for continued growth of this sector around the world, some key obstacles need to be overcome. First, the lack of research institutions in developing countries needs to be addressed. Building up research institutions in those areas is actually an explicit goal of BI’s Africa Growth Initiative, which seeks to partner with many different African think tanks and organizations to address that very issue. Global think tanks and policy networks will all increase in utility when expansion is encouraged, framework for knowledge transfer is provided, and independent and effective management is cultivated in these areas. There are governments that try to create what is known as “phantom think tanks” designed to appear non-governmental when they are in fact arms of the government that are used to oppose legitimate civil society organizations. Funding also tends to exert direct or indirect influence over the research agenda of think tanks if they fail to put the policies and procedures in place to safe guard the integrity and independence of the organizations. So, to be truly independent policy organizations need to have a wide variety and large number of donors so they are not beholden to government or narrow special interests.
Ultimately, global think tanks and policy networks will be crucial in helping policymakers manage the “Four Mores” on a global scale: more issues, more actors, more competition, and more conflict. To do this, they need to master the “Four Rs”: rigor, relevance, reliability, and reach (national, regional, and global). All think tanks face the need to balance academic quality research with information that is understandable and accessible to policymakers and the public. This becomes even more critical on a larger scale. The surge and spread of global think tanks is exactly that attempt to keep up with globalization and distill avalanches of information down to manageable and understandable analyses. As different countries continue to form more global networks and closer relationships with each other, the think tanks of the future that manage to address obstacles inherent in expansion will continue to grow in both numbers and influence. They are also ideally suited to help us respond to a new trend that I would describe as policy Tsunamis (economic, political, social, and health). These are issues and events that will appear in one region and then sweep rapidly across the globe with increasing intensity and devastating impact. The Economic Crisis of 2008, the Arab Spring, and SARS are examples of this new phenomenon. A global network of think tanks could track issues and events and try to understand them before they reach the crises stage. This is the challenge we face to harness the vast reservoir of knowledge, information, and associational energy that exist in public policy research organizations in every region of the world for public good.
James G. McGann is the Assistant Director of the International Relations Program at the University of Pennsylvania. He is also is a Senior Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute and Director of the Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program. Dr. McGann has served as a consultant and advisor to the World Bank; United Nations; United States Agency for International Development; the Carnegie Corporation and Rockefeller, Templeton, MacArthur, Soros, Hewlett, and Gates foundations; and foreign governments on the role of non-governmental, public policy, and public engagement organizations in civil society. His latest publications are The Role of Think Tanks in Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (CIPE 2009) and Global Think Tanks, Policy Networks and Governance (Routledge 2010).
Clare Fletcher, a summer intern for the Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program, University of Pennsylvania, provided research assistance for this article.
a global affairs media network
Think Tanks: Catalyst for Ideas and Action
December 2, 2011
In an age where the power of a computer chip doubles at least every 18 months, where the average young adult is training for jobs that do not yet exist, and where flying halfway around the world requires less than a day, the resulting surge of new information often raises more questions than it answers. In this increasingly complex, independent, and information-rich world, governments and individual policy makers face the common problem of bringing expert knowledge to bear in governmental decision-making. In response, although initially behind the wave of globalization, growth of public policy research organizations, or think tanks, over the last few decades has been nothing less than explosive. Not only have these organizations increased in number, but the scope and impact of their work has also expanded dramatically at the national, regional and global level. Twenty years ago, when the first global meeting of think tanks in Barcelona, Spain was organized, many of my colleagues suggested that the term “think tank” did not travel well across borders; but today, the term has become an accepted transnational concept.
Think Tanks are research, analysis, and engagement institutions that generate policy advice on domestic and international issues, enabling policymakers to make informed decisions and bridging the gap between the government and the public at large. In simpler terms, think tanks serve as “go-to” institutions when experts on particular topics are needed to provide analysis or commentary on the breaking news of the day. While these organizations are classified in one of the following categories: for profit, autonomous and independent, quasi independent, university affiliated, political party affiliated, quasi-governmental, or governmental, a finer line gets drawn when separating internationally oriented think tanks with a domestic focus from those that are truly global or transnational. Being a global think tank requires many of the same features as multi-national corporations including established operational centers in two or more continents that are linked by a shared mission, programs and operations including field offices with local staff and scholars, product offerings to a global audience, and a variety of international funding sources. International does not necessarily mean global. Many think tanks conduct research on international issues, but they are not global think tanks. To be a global institution, a think tank must operate on two or more continents and have networked global operations. Some think tanks are regional or merely transnational, meaning they operate in two or more states. When we use these parameters, there are just a dozen or so think tanks that are global and a slightly larger number that are transnational. But the numbers are growing--think tanks have finally gone global. If we count both global and transnational organizations, there are now approximately 60 think tanks that have cross-border operations (see Global Think Tanks, Policy Networks and Governance, McGann 2011 for a more detailed discussion).
One of the most successful think tanks to employ a truly global strategy is the International Crisis Group (ICG). The ICG has field offices around the world, staff representing 50 nationalities and 47 languages, and 45% of its funding coming from governments of 22 different countries. The ICG, however, is not alone in its endeavor. The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP) has set goals and has already come a long way in terms of global operations with the opening of its 5th office in Brussels. Think tanks can go global in other ways as well. The Brookings Institute (BI) and RAND have operational centers outside the US and have expanded their brands globally through the internet, collaborative projects, and scholar exchanges. BI has made a big investment in its website since 2006, also adding select content in Arabic, Chinese and Spanish. The impact is clear. Today, about 1/3 of the visitors to BI's site are from outside of the United States. A third approach is the franchise model where a think tank will transfer its name, strategy, structure, philosophy to groups operating in other countries. The German political foundations have created what I would describe as political party think tank franchises around the globe. Think tanks around the world are clearly globalizing, multiplying, and increasing in importance. There are currently 6480 think tanks in the world, 57% of which are based in North America and Western Europe. But, this scene is dramatically changing year by year. The greatest surge in the number of think tanks being established is taking place in Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
Primary reasons for the dramatic growth of think tanks around the world are: democratization, globalization, and modernization. Democratization inspires demands for analysis and information independent of government influence. It also allows for a more open debate about government decision-making, which is an environment in which think tanks thrive. In addition, think tanks can no longer be arm chair analysts sitting in Brussels, Paris or Washington; they must be in country and on the ground covering the issues if they want to have credibility and influence on the major issues of the day. The growth of international actors and the pressures of globalization have led many think tanks to expand their operations globally. Both the ICG and the CEIP cite the end of the Cold War and the emergence of United States supremacy as inspiration for going global. Others, such as Brookings and the German Marshall Fund, use modernization and advances in technology/communications to pragmatically globalize for added convenience.
The impact of this shift is still slowly being revealed among governments and the policy community, but there is undoubtedly a large potential for positive global policy impact. Global think tanks have the opportunity to provide a constructive forum for the exchange of information between key stakeholders, or a “neutral space” for debate. In a globalizing, fast-paced, information-rich world, think tanks can also provide important field research and efficient, quality responses to time-sensitive foreign policy problems. The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace attempts to fill this role by having offices in Moscow, Beirut, Beijing and Brussels each specializing in regionally important security issues. Additionally, when think tanks become global and form networks, it is more likely that they will pool their efforts and aggregate resources to accomplish these goals. Some issues like carbon emissions, health care, and financial systems are inherently global because they require cross-national coordination and may only take second place to domestic issues and agendas within any individual country.
Think tanks are not necessarily passive research organizations. Some have taken quite an active role when it comes to lobbying for or articulating and implementing policy in distinct areas. They are contractors, trainers, and media outlets. The International Peace Institute, for example, trains military and civilian professionals in peacekeeping strategies. And, Brookings’ Internally Displaced Persons project, operating under the auspices of the UN in partnership with the London School of Economics, seeks to help populations uprooted by violent conflict and civil unrest. Furthermore, with the decline of foreign news bureaus, global think tanks like ICG and CIPE are increasingly becoming an important and reliable international news source. This is in sharp contrast to the days when think tank scholars would sit in their “universities without students” and come up with great ideas, and policy-makers would beat a path to their door to seek their advice.
With such a broad range of functions, the global think tank of tomorrow will continue to gain in importance. But for continued growth of this sector around the world, some key obstacles need to be overcome. First, the lack of research institutions in developing countries needs to be addressed. Building up research institutions in those areas is actually an explicit goal of BI’s Africa Growth Initiative, which seeks to partner with many different African think tanks and organizations to address that very issue. Global think tanks and policy networks will all increase in utility when expansion is encouraged, framework for knowledge transfer is provided, and independent and effective management is cultivated in these areas. There are governments that try to create what is known as “phantom think tanks” designed to appear non-governmental when they are in fact arms of the government that are used to oppose legitimate civil society organizations. Funding also tends to exert direct or indirect influence over the research agenda of think tanks if they fail to put the policies and procedures in place to safe guard the integrity and independence of the organizations. So, to be truly independent policy organizations need to have a wide variety and large number of donors so they are not beholden to government or narrow special interests.
Ultimately, global think tanks and policy networks will be crucial in helping policymakers manage the “Four Mores” on a global scale: more issues, more actors, more competition, and more conflict. To do this, they need to master the “Four Rs”: rigor, relevance, reliability, and reach (national, regional, and global). All think tanks face the need to balance academic quality research with information that is understandable and accessible to policymakers and the public. This becomes even more critical on a larger scale. The surge and spread of global think tanks is exactly that attempt to keep up with globalization and distill avalanches of information down to manageable and understandable analyses. As different countries continue to form more global networks and closer relationships with each other, the think tanks of the future that manage to address obstacles inherent in expansion will continue to grow in both numbers and influence. They are also ideally suited to help us respond to a new trend that I would describe as policy Tsunamis (economic, political, social, and health). These are issues and events that will appear in one region and then sweep rapidly across the globe with increasing intensity and devastating impact. The Economic Crisis of 2008, the Arab Spring, and SARS are examples of this new phenomenon. A global network of think tanks could track issues and events and try to understand them before they reach the crises stage. This is the challenge we face to harness the vast reservoir of knowledge, information, and associational energy that exist in public policy research organizations in every region of the world for public good.
James G. McGann is the Assistant Director of the International Relations Program at the University of Pennsylvania. He is also is a Senior Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute and Director of the Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program. Dr. McGann has served as a consultant and advisor to the World Bank; United Nations; United States Agency for International Development; the Carnegie Corporation and Rockefeller, Templeton, MacArthur, Soros, Hewlett, and Gates foundations; and foreign governments on the role of non-governmental, public policy, and public engagement organizations in civil society. His latest publications are The Role of Think Tanks in Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (CIPE 2009) and Global Think Tanks, Policy Networks and Governance (Routledge 2010).
Clare Fletcher, a summer intern for the Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program, University of Pennsylvania, provided research assistance for this article.
