Does America have the world's best think tanks? According to the United States government it (probably) does.
At a National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR) roundtable discussion today, Daniel Russel, Assistant Secretary of State, Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, said that "the strength of America's academic community and think tanks is envied around the world."
Think Tank Watch will not weigh in on which country has the best think tanks (we don't want to start WWIII this Friday morning, and plus, one can just check out the US-centric UPenn think tank rankings for some "insight"), but we do know that the US has the most think tanks of any country.
As of early 2015, the US had 1,830 think tanks, more than four times the next closest country (China), which has "only" 429 think tanks. The United Kingdom has the third largest number of think tanks at 287.
Please send Think Tank Watch your thoughts on which country has the best think tanks and why.