Thursday, January 26, 2017

2017 Think Tank Rankings - Cheat Sheet

The University of Pennsylvania has just released its annual think tank rankings today - the 10th version of its extensive rankings of the world's think tanks - and Think Tank Watch has been busy analyzing an early copy of the report.

As always, it is no surprise that the Brookings Institution remains the world's #1 think tank, particularly since they were the ones who published the new book by the UPenn professor who runs the rankings (more on that here).

Top Think Tank Worldwide (US & Non-US):
  1. Brookings Institution
  2. Chatham House
  3. French Institute of International Relations
  4. Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS)
  5. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace 
  6. Bruegel
  7. RAND Corporation
  8. Wilson Center
  9. Fundacao Getulia Vargas (FGV)
  10. Council on Foreign Relations (CFR)
  
Top Think Tanks in the US:
  1. Brookings Institution
  2. CFR
  3. CSIS
  4. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
  5. Wilson Center
  6. RAND Corp.
  7. Heritage Foundation
  8. Cato Institute
  9. Center for American Progress (CAP)
  10. Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE)

Top Think Tanks in Mexico and Canada:
  1. Consejo Mexicano de Asuntos Internacionales (COMEXI)
  2. Fraser Institute
  3. Centro de Investigacion y Docencia Economicas (CIDE) 
  4. Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI)
  5. Fundar, Centro de Analisis e Investigacion

Top Think Tanks in Central and South America:
  1. Fundacao Getulia Vargas
  2. Comision Economica para America Latina (CEPAL)
  3. Fedesarrollo
  4. Centro Brasileiro de Relacoes Internacionais (CEBRI)
  5. Consejo Argentino para las Relaciones Internacionales (CARI)

Top Think Tanks in Sub-Saharan Africa:
  1. Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA)
  2. Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis (KIPPRA) 
  3. Botswana Institute for Development Policy Analysis (BIDPA)
  4. IMANI Center for Policy and Education
  5. African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD)

Top Think Tanks in Central Asia:
  1. Center for Economic and Social Development (CESD)
  2. Kazakhstan Institute for Strategic Studies
  3. Caucasus Institute for Peace, Democracy and Development (CIPDD)
  4. Armat Center for the Development of Democracy and Civil Society
  5. Caucuses Research Resource Center (CRRC)

Top Think Tanks in China, Japan, India, and South Korea:
  1. Korea Development Institute (KDI)
  2. Japan Institute of International Affairs (JIIA)
  3. Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP)
  4. China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations (CICIR)
  5. Observer Research Foundation (ORF)

Top Think Tanks in Southeast Asia and the Pacific:
  1. Australia Institute for International Affairs (AIIA)
  2. Centre for Strategic Studies (CSS)
  3. Institute of Defense and Strategic Studies (IDSS)
  4. Centre for Public Policy Studies (CPPS)
  5. Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)

Top Think Tanks in Central and Eastern Europe:
  1. Center for Social and Economic Research (CASE)
  2. Carnegie Moscow Center
  3. Polish Institute of International Affairs (PISM)
  4. Institute of World Economy and International Relations
  5. Razumkov Centre

Top Think Tanks in Western Europe:
  1. Chatham House
  2. French Institute of International Relations (IFRI)
  3. Bruegel
  4. Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS)
  5. Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS)

Top Think Tanks in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA):
  1. Center for Strategic Studies (CSS)
  2. Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies (ACPSS)
  3. Institute for National Security Studies (INSS)
  4. Carnegie Middle East Center
  5. Al Jazeera Cenre for Studies (AJCS)

Top Defense and National Security Think Tanks:
  1. Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
  2. RAND Corporation
  3. International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS)
  4. Brookings Institution
  5. Chatham House

Top Domestic Economic Policy Think Tanks:
  1. Brookings
  2. Adam Smith Institute (ASI)
  3. National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)
  4. Cato Institute
  5. PIIE

Top Education Policy Think Tanks:
  1. Urban Institute
  2. Brookings
  3. National Institute for Educational Policy Research
  4. RAND Corp.
  5. Cato Institute

Top Energy and Resource Policy Think Tanks:
  1. Oxford Institute for Energy Studies (OIES)
  2. James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy
  3. Institute of Energy Economics
  4. World Resources Institute (WRI)
  5. Center for Science of Environment, Resources and Energy

Top Environment Policy Think Tanks:
  1. Stockholm Environment Institute
  2. Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
  3. World Resources Institute
  4. Center for Climate and Energy Solutions
  5. E3G - Third Generation Environmentalism

Top Foreign Policy and International Affairs Think Tanks:
  1. Brookings
  2. Chatham House
  3. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
  4. French Institute of International Relations
  5. Council on Foreign Relations

Top Domestic Health Policy Think Tanks:
  1. Cambridge Centre for Health Services Research
  2. Bloomberg School of Public Health Research Centers
  3. RAND Corp.
  4. Brookings
  5. Fraser Institute

Top Global Health Policy Think Tanks:
  1. Cambridge Centre for Health Services Research
  2. Bloomberg School of Public Health Research Centers
  3. CSIS
  4. Brookings
  5. RAND Corp.

Top International Economics Think Tanks:
  1. PIIE
  2. Bruegel
  3. Brookings
  4. Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies
  5. Korea Institute for Economic Policy

Top Science and Technology Think Tanks:
  1. Max Planck Institutes
  2. Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF)
  3. Center for Development Research
  4. Battelle Memorial Institute
  5. Institute for Future Engineering; FKA Institute for Future Technology

Top Social Policy Think Tanks:
  1. Urban Institute
  2. Brookings
  3. Center for Social and Economic Research (CASE)
  4. Fraser Institute
  5. RAND Corporation

Best For-Profit Think Tanks:
  1. McKinsey Global Institute
  2. Economist Intelligence United
  3. Boston Consulting Group
  4. A.T. Kearney Global Business Policy Center
  5. Nomura Research Institute

Best Government-Affiliated Think Tanks:
  1. World Bank Institute
  2. Asian Development Bank Institute
  3. Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
  4. Congressional Research Service
  5. Development Research Group, World Bank

Here is a look at last year's (2016) rankings cheat sheet, compiled by Think Tank Watch.

Remember, you may want to be careful about reading too much into these rankings, which have numerous flaws and biases. 

A video of the launch of this year's rankings, which took place at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), can be found here.  A video from the Asia Society, which also hosted a launch event, can be found here.