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The United States Institute of Peace (USIP), a think tank funded by the federal government, focuses on conflict resolution in
Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and other global hotspots. (Photo by Larry Luxner)

From Australia’s Asialink and Brussels-based Friends of Europe to the Zimbabwe Economic
Policy Analysis and Research Unit, think tanks today flourish on every continent except
Antarctica. They focus on a wide range of issues including healthcare, defense, fiscal policy
and international relations.

Yet it seems that Washington, D.C., is home to more think tanks—and better ones—than
any other city on Earth. In fact, six of the world’s 20 best such organizations are
headquartered in the nation’s capital, according to the University of Pennsylvania’s Think
Tanks and Civil Strategies Program (TTCSP).

Released on Jan. 28, the 2020 Global Go To

Think Tank Index Report ranks more than 8,000
think tanks in 85 countries. It was compiled by
researcher James G. McGann, director of TTCSP,
a division of the Wharton School’s Lauder
Institute.

Washington-based think tanks among the top 20

overall were the Carnegie Endowment for The Brookings Institution, located on Massachusetts
Avenue, has been ranked the world’s best think tank
International Peace (first place); the Center for specializing in foreign policy and international affairs.
Strategic & International Studies, or CSIS (4th); (Photo by Larry Luxner)

the Peterson Institute for International

Economics, or PIIE (9th); the Wilson Center
(10th); Center for American Progress, or CAP (11th); and the Heritage Foundation (13th).

The Brookings Institution, also based in Washington, was excluded from the overall index
because it ranked first worldwide in 2017, 2018 and 2019, and is now designated a “Center
of Excellence.” For 2020, the world’s top think is the Japan Institute of International Affairs,
led by Kenichiro Sasae, Japan’s former ambassador to the United States.

Including only think tanks that specialize in foreign policy and international affairs, the top
DC-based performers were Brookings (first place); Carnegie (2nd); CSIS (4th); the Wilson
Center (7th); the Atlantic Council (10th) and CAP (20th). Others in the top 20 are based in
Britain, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Japan and South Korea.

8% of nation’s 2,203 think tanks are here in DC

Simply put, says TTCSP, “think tanks are public policy research analysis and engagement
organizations that generate policy-oriented research, analysis and advice on domestic and
international issues, thereby enabling policymakers and the public to make informed
decisions about public policy.”

Some are fiercely independent and feisty, while others accept government money as well
as funding from large defense contractors and foreign embassies. In general, these
institutions often act as a bridge between the academic and policymaking communities and
between states and civil society, serving in the public interest as an independent voice that
translates applied and basic research into a language that is understandable, reliable and
accessible for policymakers and the public.

According to the report, there are 2,203 think

tanks in the United States (compared to 2,932 in
Europe), with nearly 8% of the U.S. think tanks
based in Washington, D.C. Their numbers have
more than doubled since 1980, with most of the
newer ones specializing in a particular region or
subject area.

McGann, who’s been tracking and ranking think

James McGann, director of the University of
Pennsylvania’s Think Tanks and Civil Strategies
Program. (Photo courtesy of TTCSP)
disdained expert advice on just about everything.
tanks since 2006, said their influence will grow
dramatically with Joe Biden in the White House—
especially compared to his predecessor, who

Yet how many experts enter or leave the “revolving door” that links think tanks and the
federal government varies from one administration to the next, depending on whether a
president is a Washington insider, McGann said.

“Insiders obviously have a greater propensity to use think tanks—and there’s very clear
empirical evidence that an extraordinary number of people from think tanks are going into
the Biden administration,” he told the Diplomat by phone.

Biden team welcomes CSIS, Brookings, Peterson expertise

Under Donald Trump’s presidency, two ultra-conservative think tanks—Heritage and the
Hudson Institute—had an oversized influence on domestic and foreign policy. But with
Biden in charge, things will be quite different.

For starters, his White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, was formerly vice-president of
communications at Carnegie, while his pick to run the CIA is Carnegie’s president, veteran
diplomat William Burns. And the new treasury secretary is Janet Yellen, formerly a
distinguished scholar in residence at Brookings.

“This is all natural. The United States is unique

in that historically, relying on outside experts is
deeply embedded in our political culture and
institutions,” McGann said. “The Europeans
wrongly suggest that this ‘revolving door’ is
corruption at its highest level and that the only
‘pure’ advice is from civil servants—which is the
furthest thing from the truth.”
Luís Alberto Moreno, who until four months ago
headed the Inter-American Development Bank,
CSIS, Brookings and the Peterson Institute will shares a light moment with Luís Carlos Villegas,
all loom large in the Biden White House, said Colombia’s former ambassador in Washington, and
Kevin Whitaker, who served as U.S. envoy to
McGann. Likewise, the Atlantic Council has Colombia from 2014 to 2019. The three men are
announced that four of its own have been given pictured here during an event the Atlantic Council’s
Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center. (Photo by Larry
senior roles in the new administration, led by Luxner)

Wendy Sherman—a member of the council’s

board since February 2018—as deputy secretary
of state.

“The United States faces extraordinary challenges posed by COVID-19, a crippled economy,
and a rapidly changing global order,” said the council’s president and CEO, Fred Kempe.
“Wendy brings to the incoming administration the experience, dedication, and
thoughtfulness that will be required for America to emerge from the pandemic stronger and
to renew its global standing with partners and allies.”

In addition, Eric Ridge, previously with Atlantic’s Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation

Resilience Center, has been named deputy assistant secretary of defense for strategy and
force development. Caitlin Durkovich, who was at the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and
Security, is now senior director for resilience and response at the National Security Council,
while Rebecca Brocato, previously with Atlantic’s Digital Forensic Research Lab, is the NSC’s
new senior director for legislative affairs.

Wilson Center also garners top ratings

Four years of Trump have indeed taken their toll on facts, said Brookings President and CEO
John Allen, noting that “the government and the general public alike are relying on think
tanks to inform their thinking, especially in an age of increased disinformation, an active
assault on truth, and democratic decay.”

Added Adam Posen, president of PIIE: “We [have] to make our content more accessible
and change the kind of issues we’re looking at…Of course, it goes without saying that we
cannot compromise our quality or our objectivity in reaching these objectives.”

In the 2020 index, the Wilson Center—chartered by

Congress in 1968 as the official memorial to President
Woodrow Wilson—ranked third in institutional
collaboration and sixth in think tanks to watch, for its
“excellent research and innovative advances within the
past 24 months.”

It was also ranked fourth in international development

policy, ninth in best artificial intelligence policy and
strategy think tanks, and tenth in think tanks with the
most significant impact on public policy.

Mark Green, the U.S. ambassador to

Tanzania from 2007 to 2009 and former
administrator of USAID, has been named
president, director and CEO of the Wilson.
He replaces Jane Harman, who is stepping
down after 10 years.
“The center once again gets top ratings, a huge tribute
to our team and ability to expand our reach on a variety
of platforms during this long quarantine,” said Wilson’s
president, director and CEO, Jane Harman. “We are
more productive than ever, and it is gratifying that our
peers recognize this year after year.”

Harman, who’s been at the helm of Wilson for 10 years, will be replaced Feb. 28 by Mark
Green, a former U.S. ambassador to Tanzania who’s also served as executive director of the
McCain Institute for International Leadership, as well as administrator of the U.S. Agency
for International Development.

Meanwhile, in other think tank news…

The Inter-American Dialogue has announced that two of its initiatives have been shortlisted
for the Prospect 2020 Think Tank Awards in the categories of “Climate Change &
Environment” and “Medicine, Science & Technology.”

The first initiative, “Preventing the Amazon Tipping Point,” analyzes the main causes of
deforestation in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. In its 28-page report, the
think tank offers five policy recommendations to tackle deforestation in the world’s largest
tropical rainforest. Among them: promoting sustainable agriculture and farming; designing
transparent, sustainable infrastructure programs; increasing forest protection monitoring
and enforcement; expanding protected areas, and strengthening reforestation programs.

The second initiative, “Building an Ecosystem for Education

Innovation,” aims to tackle Latin America’s looming
education crisis. More children and young adults are
attending school, but an alarming number of them drop out
early or graduate with low learning levels; COVID-19 is only
exacerbating the situation.

“Latin America is desperately lacking a vision for educational

innovation, one that takes advantage of the region’s
increased connectivity and access to the internet, as well as
new technologies such as artificial intelligence, cloud
computing, big data and virtual reality,” say the report’s
UPenn’s latest index of think tanks
authors.
ranks six DC-based institutions
among the world’s top 20.

Finally, the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) has

elected a new chairman, Kenneth Wollack, as well as six
new members to its board of directors: Jessica Adelman, Roxanne Brown, Ambassador
Reuben Brigety, Scott Taylor, Kelley Currie andMinxin Pei. Wollack succeeds Andrew H. Card
Jr., who chaired NED’s board from 2018 to 2020.

“The NED Board will greatly benefit from the leadership of Ken Wollack during this
important time of transition for both our government and for NED,” said the liberal think
tank’s president, Carl Gershman. “Ken’s extensive knowledge of the democracy assistance
field, and the NED family of institutions in particular, is unmatched. I have greatly benefited
from his support and guidance for many years and it gives me great confidence to know
that he will be guiding the board during the critical period ahead.”

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