Information Packages

Think Tanks in the United States

• American Bar Association  
  With more than 400,000 members, the ABA provides law school accreditation, continuing legal education, information about the law, programs to assist lawyers and judges in their work, and initiatives to improve the legal system for the public.
  
  

• American Civil Liberties Union
  works to protect the respect for civil liberties like First Amendment rights - freedom of speech, association and assembly; freedom of the press, and freedom of religion; right to equal protection under the law - equal treatment regardless of race, sex, religion or national origin; right to due process - fair treatment by the government whenever the loss of your liberty or property is at stake; right to privacy - freedom from unwarranted government intrusion into your personal and private affairs.
  
  

• American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research (AEI) 
  The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research is a private, nonpartisan, not-for-profit institution dedicated to research and education on issues of government, politics, economics, and social welfare.
  

• American Foreign Policy Council (AFPC) 
  Founded in 1982, AFPC is a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing information to those who make or influence the foreign policy of the United States and to assisting world leaders, particularly in the former USSR, with building democracies and market economies.
  

• Amnesty International USA
  Amnesty International is the world’s oldest and largest membership organization that monitors and acts to end global human rights abuses. Amnesty International USA (AIUSA) is the largest national section of Amnesty International, marshalling more than 330,000 members and 1,599 local groups taking action and speaking together to prevent abuse and bring to justice those responsible.
  
  

• Asia/Pacific Research Center (A/PARC)  
  The Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (Shorenstein APARC) is a unique Stanford University institution focused on the interdisciplinary study of contemporary Asia.
  
  

• Asia Society   
  The Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (Shorenstein APARC) is a unique Stanford University institution focused on the interdisciplinary study of contemporary Asia.
  

• The Aspen Institute  
  The Aspen Institute, founded in 1950, is an international nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering enlightened leadership and open-minded dialogue. Through seminars, policy programs, conferences and leadership development initiatives, the Institute and its international partners seek to promote nonpartisan inquiry and an appreciation for timeless values.
  
  

• Atlantic Council of the United States (ACUS)  
  The Atlantic Council of the United States promotes constructive U.S. leadership and engagement in international affairs based on the central role of the Atlantic community in meeting the international challenges of the 21st century.
  
  

• Atlas Economic Research Foundation 
  Atlas believes that their vision of a free society can be achieved through respect for private property rights, limited government under the rule of law, and the market order.
  
       

• Berkeley Roundtable on the International Economy (BRIE) 
  The Berkeley Roundtable on the International Economy (BRIE) is an interdisciplinary research project that focuses on international economic competition and the development and application of advanced technologies. Founded by a group of faculty at the University of California, Berkeley in 1982, BRIE research concentrates on the different ways industrialized economies create competitive advantage and how these differences affect international economic and political relations. 
  
    

• The Brookings Institution  
  The Brookings Institution is a nonprofit public policy organization based in Washington, DC. Their mission is to conduct high-quality, independent research and, based on that research, to provide innovative, practical recommendations that advance three broad goals: Strengthen American democracy; Foster the economic and social welfare, security and opportunity of all Americans and Secure a more open, safe, prosperous and cooperative international system.
  
  

• Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs (CCEIA)
  The Carnegie Council promotes ethical leadership on issues of war, peace, religion in politics, and global social justice.
  
  

• Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP) 
  The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace is a private, nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing cooperation between nations and promoting active international engagement by the United States. Founded in 1910, its work is nonpartisan and dedicated to achieving practical results.
  
  

• The Carter Center
  The Carter Center, in partnership with Emory University,  is committed to advancing human rights and alleviating unnecessary human suffering. Founded in 1982 by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, the Atlanta-based Center has helped to improve the quality of life for people in more than 70 countries.
  
  

• Cascade Policy Institute
  Founded in 1991, Cascade Policy Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy research and educational organization that focuses on state and local issues in Oregon. Cascade’s mission is to develop and promote public policy alternatives that foster individual liberty, personal responsibility and economic opportunity. Cascade promotes property rights, incentives, markets and decentralized decision-making. Cascade advances these values by sharing its research with the public, the media, and state and local lawmakers through publications, educational programs, community forums and special events.
  
  

• Cato Institute
  The Cato Institute was founded in 1977 by Edward H. Crane. It is a non-profit public policy research foundation headquartered in Washington, D.C. The Institute is named for Cato's Letters, a series of libertarian pamphlets that helped lay the philosophical foundation for the American Revolution.  The Cato Institute seeks to broaden the parameters of public policy debate to allow consideration of the traditional American principles of limited government, individual liberty, free markets and peace.
  
  

• Center for Defense Information (CDI)
  The Center for Defense Information (CDI) provides expert analysis on various components of U.S. national security, international security and defense policy. CDI promotes wide-ranging discussion and debate on security issues such as nuclear weapons, space security, missile defense, small arms and military transformation.
  
    

• Center for Democracy and Technology
  The Center for Democracy and Technology works to promote democratic values and constitutional liberties in the digital age. With expertise in law, technology, and policy, CDT seeks practical solutions to enhance free expression and privacy in global communications technologies. CDT is dedicated to building consensus among all parties interested in the future of the Internet and other new communications media.
  
  

• Center for Economic and Policy Research
  The Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) was established in 1999 to promote democratic debate on the most important economic and social issues that affect people's lives.
  
  

• Center for International Policy (CIP)   
  The Center promotes a U.S. foreign policy based on international cooperation, demilitarization and respect for basic human rights.  The Center for International Policy was founded in 1975, in the wake of the Vietnam War, by former diplomats and peace activists.
  
  

• Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE)
  The Center for International Private Enterprise is a non-profit affiliate of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and one of the four core institutes of the National Endowment for Democracy. CIPE has supported more than 1,000 local initiatives in over 100 developing countries, involving the private sector in policy advocacy and institutional reform, improving governance, and building understanding of market-based democratic systems. CIPE provides management assistance, practical experience, and financial support to local organizations to strengthen their capacity to implement democratic and economic reforms. CIPE programs are also supported through the United States Agency for International Development.
  
  

• Center for International Security and Strategic Studies, Mississippi State University (CISS)  
  Founded by Dr. János Radványi, Professor of History, in 1981, the Center for International Security and Strategic Studies (CISS) at Mississippi State University (MSU) is the only university-based research institute in the Southeastern Region between Atlanta and Austin working on specific international security studies.
  
  

• Center for International Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (CIS) 
  The Center for International Studies (CIS) aims to support and promote international research and education at MIT. They capitalize on MIT's great strengths in science and engineering, examining the international aspects of these fields as they relate to both policy and practice, and focusing on those issues where science and engineering intersect most closely with foreign affairs.  CIS includes 160 members of the MIT faculty and staff, mainly drawn from the departments of political science and urban studies, and visiting scholars from around the world.
  
  

• Center for National Policy (CNP)  
  The Center for National Policy, celebrating a quarter century of expertise in Washington, directly engages Capitol Hill and the executive branch on the nation’s most important national security issues. 
  
  

• Center for Public Policy and Contemporary Issues-Institute for Public Policy Studies, University of Denver (CPPCI)
  The Institute for Public Policy Studies at the University of Denver is committed to the development of tomorrow's policy leaders through an innovative, analytical core curriculum that emphasizes cost-effective, market-based alternatives to contemporary issues.
  
  

• Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)   
  The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) provides strategic insights and policy solutions to decisionmakers in government, international institutions, the private sector, and civil society. A bipartisan, nonprofit organization headquartered in Washington, DC, CSIS conducts research and analysis and develops policy initiatives that look into the future and anticipate change.
  
  

• The Century Foundation [formerly the Twentieth Century Fund] (TCF)
  The Century Foundation, founded in 1919 by the progressive businessman Edward A. Filene, is a nonprofit public policy research institution committed to the belief that a mix of effective government, open democracy, and free markets is the most effective solution to the major challenges facing the United States. 
  
      

• The Chicago Council on Global Affairs (CCFR)
  The Chicago Council’s Corporate Program helps Chicago business leaders compete in a fast-changing global economy. Benefits are tailored exclusively for companies that recognize the importance of operating effectively around the world. 
  
  

• Committee for Economic Development (CED)  
  The Committee for Economic Development (CED) is an independent, nonpartisan organization of business and education leaders dedicated to policy research on the major economic and social issues of our time and the implementation of its recommendations by the public and private sectors.
  
  

• Commonwealth Institute  
  The Commonwealth Institute is an independent, nongovernmental public policy research center located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. The Institute is an operating program of the Commonwealth Foundation, an unendowed nonprofit corporation registered in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, USA.
  
  

• Council for Excellence in Government
  The nonpartisan, nonprofit Council has achieved the status of a creative, looked-to leader in its field.    Pursuing its mission to improve the performance of government and the connections between government and citizens, it focuses its strategic priorities in four areas--to attract and develop the best and brightest for public service; encourage innovation and results-oriented government performance; engage citizens in government; and promote electronic government as a resource to achieve all of these goals. The Council’s 700 members, or Principals, are business, education and nonprofit leaders who have served in government.  
  
  

• Council on Foreign Relations   
  The Council on Foreign Relations is an independent, nonpartisan membership organization, think tank, and publisher dedicated to being a resource for its members, government officials, business executives, journalists, educators and students, civic and religious leaders, and other interested citizens in order to help them better understand the world and the foreign policy choices facing the United States and other countries.
  
  

• The Development Group for Alternative Policies (D'GAP)   
  The Development Group for Alternative Policies was founded in 1976 to assist in the promotion of economic justice across the South, or Third World, by helping to maximize control by poor communities and sectors over their own development in the face of impositions from the North. It was established on the principle of the right to self-determination and on the belief that local knowledge is indispensable to the shaping of sound development policies, programs and projects relevant to local needs and conditions.
  
  

• Demos: A Network for Ideas & Action
  Demos is a non-partisan public policy research and advocacy organization. Headquartered in New York City, Demos works with advocates and policymakers around the country in pursuit of four overarching goals: a more equitable economy; a vibrant and inclusive democracy; an empowered public sector that works for the common good; and responsible U.S. engagement in an interdependent world.
  
  

• Discovery Institute   
  Discovery Institute's mission is to make a positive vision of the future practical. The Institute discovers and promotes ideas in the common sense tradition of representative government, the free market and individual liberty.
  
  

• Earth Policy Institute
  The Earth Policy Institute was founded May 2001 by Lester Brown and Reah Janise Kauffman to provide a vision of a sustainable future and a plan for how to get from here to there.
  
  

• East-West Center (EWC)  
  The East-West Center is an education and research organization established by the U.S. Congress in 1960 to strengthen relations and understanding among the peoples and nations of Asia, the Pacific, and the United States. The Center contributes to a peaceful, prosperous, and just Asia Pacific community by serving as a vigorous hub for cooperative research, education, and dialogue on critical issues of common concern to the Asia Pacific region and the United States.
  
  

• EastWest Institute [formerly Institute for EastWest Studies (IEWS)] (EWI)  
  Founded in 1980, EWI is an international, non-partisan, entrepreneurial organization with centers in Brussels, New York and Moscow.
  
  

• Economic Growth Center, Yale University (EGC)   

• Economic Policy Institute (EPI)  

• Economic Strategy Institute (ESI)

• Electronic Frontier Foundation

• Electronic Privacy Information Center

• Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI)  

• Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC)  

• Focus Project/OMB Watch

• Foreign Policy Institute (FPI), The John Hopkins University

• Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI)  

• Harvard Institute for International Development (HIID) 

• The Helen Kellogg Institute for International Studies (KI)

• The Heritage Foundation  

• Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace, Stanford University  

• Hudson Institute, Inc.  

• The Independent Institute  

• Institute for Advanced Study (IAS)  

• Institute for Contemporary Studies (ICS)  

• Institute for Food and Development Policy (Food First)

• The Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis, Inc. (IFPA)  

• Institute for International Economics (IIE)  

• Institute for Policy Studies (IPS)  

• Institute for Research on Poverty (IPR)

• Institute for the Future (IFTF)  

• Inter-American Dialogue (IAD)

• International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)  

• International Research Center for Energy and Economic Development (ICEED)

• The James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy

• Japan Policy Research Institute (JPRI)  

• Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies

• Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies (JCPES)  

• Milken Institute

• The National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR)  

• National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)  

• National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA)

• The National Endowment for Democracy

• National Health Policy Forum (NHPF)

• National Institute for Public Policy  

• Nautilus Institute for Security and Sustainability  

• The Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government

• New America Foundation

• The Nixon Center

• North American Congress on Latin America, Inc. (NACLA)  

• Northeast-Midwest Institute

• Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy (PRI)  

• The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University  

• Phoenix Center for Advanced Legal & Economic Public Policy Studies

• Population Council  

• Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies  

• Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC)  

• RAND Corporation (RAND)  

• Reason Foundation

• Research Triangle Institute (RTI) 

• Resources for the Future (RFF)  

• The Rockford Institute

• Russell Sage Foundation (RSF)  

• Social Science Research Council (SSRC)  

• The Southern Center for International Studies (SCIS)  

• Southwest Center for Environmental Research and Policy (SCERP)

• Urban Institute  

• United States Institute of Peace

• Vanderbilt Institute for Public Policy Studies (VIPPS)

• The Washington Institute for Near East Policy  

• Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University (WCFIA) 

• Weidenbaum Center on the Economy, Government & Public Policy   

• Winrock International Institute for Agricultural Development  

• Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (WWICS)  

• World Policy Institute (WPI) 

• World Resources Institute (WRI)

• Worldwatch Institute
  
  More Think Tank Links from all over the world is at: Foreign Policy Research Institute
  
  Last updated on May 30, 2008.