Think tank: Encyclopedia II - Think tank - Types of think tanks

Think tank - 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.

Think tank - American 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). More traditional conservative policy think tanks include the Heritage Foundation. 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. There are also centrist and nonpartisan think tanks such as the Brookings Institution, a well respected center-left organization, and the Cato Institute, a libertarian or "free-market liberal" think tank. The Roosevelt Institution is pushing the think tank model by attempting to organize university and college student bodies into effective think tanks

Think tank - 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.

Think tank - 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.

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 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).

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.

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.

Think tank - Russian think tanks

Russian think tanks have experienced a precipitous decline over the past five years. Under the Soviet Union think tanks, 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.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Types of think tanks", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki