Rising number and changing focus of think-tanks worldwide

America’s Brookings Institution was named the best think-tank in the world for a second year running, according to a University of Pennsylvania ranking report released this month. North America and Europe have 60% of the world’s think-tanks while Asia’s share has grown to 18% and Latin American and the Caribbean’s to 11%.

As results from the fifth annual Global Go-To Think Tank Rankings were announced in Washington DC and New York, newspapers around the world homed in on how their countries fared on what has become the insider’s guide to the marketplace of ideas.

A total of 5,329 think tanks from 182 countries were ranked in the overall categories and in 30 regional and topic-specific subcategories. More than 1,500 experts from 120 countries formed panels to judge the nominated organisations during the year-long process.

The University of Pennsylvania’s think-tank ranking received more than 25,000 nominations last year, said programme head James McGann.

“Today, almost every country in the world has a think-tank,” McGann said at the New York launch held at the United Nations.

“The goal of the rankings is to highlight the important role think-tanks play in government and civil society. The main goal of think-tanks is to bridge the gap between knowledge and policy. It helps institutions to appreciate their own work and helps governments and civil society, who seek advice.”

A dynamic rise in the number of think-tanks continued last year. Some of the reasons for that increase include a rising demand for independent information and analysis, a crisis of confidence in government and emerging transnational issues and politics, McGann says.

As a result, the focus of think-tanks has also changed.

The report states that “there are a number of major political, economic, social and technological trends that are converging at this moment in history and that have a profound impact on governments and the institutions that serve them.

“It is essential that think-tanks understand these trends and be ahead of them so that we are all not buried by them.”

Because the overwhelming number of the ranked think-tanks are located in the United States, a total of 1,815, this year’s results contained a category excluding America, which named Chatham House in the United Kingdom number one.

United States think-tanks dominated many categories, with the Center for Strategic and International Studies winning the top security and international affairs category, and the Brookings Institution winning in several categories, including top international development, domestic economic policy and social policy.

New or modified categories have reflected the ever-changing focus of think-tanks worldwide.

The existing category of think-thanks that best use the internet to engage the public was modified to include social media, showing the rising importance of that medium in political and civil society movements. The top three think-tanks in that category were the United States-based Council on Foreign Relations and Brookings Institution and the United Kingdom’s Amnesty International.

Winners in new areas included Canada’s North-South Institute for think-tanks operating on a budget of less than US$5 million, and Google Ideas of the United States and United Kingdom, for new organisations that have appeared over the last 18 months.

Notable in the latter category were two new Moroccan think-tanks, the Casablanca Institute, ranking ninth, and the Amadeus Center, coming in at 18th. Steady growth in the numbers of think-tanks has seen burgeoning developments in the Middle East and other regions, which mirror new global priorities, McGann said.

What was clear by the new categories introduced with the 2011 rankings was that developing countries were edging into the competition, including from the Middle East.

“This general phenomenon happened to have preceded the Arab Spring,” McGann said. “In the region over the last three years, over 14 requests have come in from countries expressing interest in creating think-tanks. There has been a dramatic uptick after the Arab Awakening. The two ranking Moroccan think-tanks came online rather quickly.”

Across the board, Middle East and North Africa had just 5% of the world’s think-tanks, and Africa had 8.5% in total. North America and Europe had the largest share, at 60%. But over the last few decades, Asia had increased its share to 18% and Latin America and the Caribbean to 11%.

* The full report is available online here.