Think Tanks

Think tanks are public policy research organizations that provide research, analysis, and advice on domestic and international issues. These organizations employ experts from academia and government who publish a wide range of scholarship including working papers, proceedings from conferences, books, journals and policy briefs. Think tanks may be independent or affiliated with a government entity or political party. Many, but not all, are non-profit organizations.

Think Tanks publications are an excellent source of Grey Literature.

Think tanks are specialized institutions that serve one or more of the following purposes:

• Complement mainstream media coverage, by addressing issues that may have been misunderstood or overlooked
• Provide high quality, externally refereed research by independent and university-affiliated scholars
• Produce technical reports of a kind commissioned by democratic governments
• Advocate for government to consider matters of public policy through a certain lens, providing evidence-based, reasoned argument
• Advisory role to government, business, or political parties

Many think tanks have emerged in the U.S., U.K., and Canada, making it difficult to rank or compare them fairly. Several ranking systems make an attempt to do so, including the report from the University of Pennsylvania (below) which tends to be well respected.

• Global Go To Think Tank Index Report (University of Pennsylvania)
  • Top-ranked international think tanks
• Transparify
  • Rating the financial transparency of international think tanks
• Wikipedia: Think Tank
  • International listings

Canadian think tanks are internationally respected for their consideration of, and research on, domestic issues. The highest-regarded international affairs think tanks, however, tend to be U.S.- or U.K.-based.

Among Canadian think tanks, the Fraser Institute tends to be libertarian and the Broadbent Institute social democratic, for example. Some think tanks have a history of multiple missions, such as the Frontier Centre for Public Policy which has combined a focus on the advancement of First Nations with a libertarian element.

Think tanks are not-for-profit and electorally non-partisan, although they do tend to have policy, intellectual, or ideological missions. HOWEVER, it is advisable not to restrict research only to think tanks tending toward a certain ideology. A balanced approach, exploring a range of think tanks, is beneficial to gaining a fuller understanding of an issue -- if only to better confirm why you don't agree with a competing point of view.

The following list is limited to organizations that call themselves think tanks.

Canada

• Atlantic Institute for Market Studies (AIMS)
  • Economics, social policy
    
• Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada
  • Canadian Asian relations
    
• Broadbent Institute
  • Social policy

• Canada's Public Policy Forum
  • Public service, human capital, economy
    
• Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA)
  • Social, economic, environmental justice
    
• Canadian Council on Social Development (CCSD)
  • Canadian social policy
    
• Canadian Global Affairs Institute
  • Global affairs
    
• Canadian International Council (CIC)
  • Canada's foreign relations
    
• Canadian International Development Platform (CIDP)
  • International development issues
  • Located within the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs (NPSIA)

• C.D. Howe Institute
  • Economics
    
• Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI)
  • Global economy, security, law

• Conference Board of Canada
  • Economic trends, public policy
  • Subscription access to their e-Library

• Fraser Institute
  • Impacts of Canadian Government policy, including social, economic, and environmental
    
• Frontier Centre For Public Policy (FCPP)
  • Good governance and reform

• Institute for Research on Public Policy (IRPP)
  • Policy issues facing Canadians and Canadian government

• Macdonald-Laurier Institute
  • Canadian public policy

• Maytree
  • Social policy

• Montreal Economics Institute (MEI)
  • Public policy, economics
• The National Institute on Ageing
  • Canada’s ageing population

United States

• American Enterprise Institute (AEI)
  • Economics, education, health care, poverty, defense studies

• Brookings
  • Issues facing society at the local, national, and global level

• Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
  • International peace
    
• Cato Institute
  • Individual liberty, limited government, free markets

• Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS)
  • International security

• Global Financial Integrity (GFI)
  • Illicit financial flows, advises developing countries, international financial system
    
• The Heritage Foundation
  • American focus: free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom

• Middle East Forum (MEF)
  • Western values and the Middle East

• RAND Corporation
  • Security, health, education, sustainability, growth and development

• Urban Institute
  • Urbanizing environment

United Kingdom and European Union

• Adam Smith Institute
  • Free markets, economic policy

• Bruegel
  • European, focused on economics
    
• Centre for Strategic Research and Analysis
  • Political science and international affairs
    
• Chatham House
  • International affairs
    
• European Council on Foreign Relations
  • Europe's role in the world
    
• Institut Français des Relations Internationales (IFRI)
  • International affairs, global governance
    
• New Policy Institute
  • Poverty, housing, economics
    
• Overseas Development Institute (ODI)
  • International development, humanitarian issues
    
• The Oxford Institute for Energy Studies
  • Global energy issues
    
• Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI)
  • Environment and development

More Think Tanks by Geographic Region

• Google's Custom Search of Think Tanks
  
• Harvard Kennedy School
  • International focus on public policy research, analysis, and activity
    
• Find Policy - Canada
  
• Find Policy - Other Countries
  
• Policy Commons
  
• Policy Files Index