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 THINK TANKS: THE BRAIN TRUSTS OF THE SHADOW GOVERNMENT

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PostSubject: THINK TANKS: THE BRAIN TRUSTS OF THE SHADOW GOVERNMENT   THINK TANKS: THE BRAIN TRUSTS OF THE SHADOW GOVERNMENT I_icon_minitimeMon Jun 19, 2017 10:16 am

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THINK TANKS: THE BRAIN TRUSTS OF THE SHADOW GOVERNMENT
Published: June 19, 2017

Source: Submission Via Lance Robben



 
THINK TANKS: THE BRAIN TRUSTS OF THE SHADOW GOVERNMENT Hires_080421-n-0696m-274aAt think tank Atlantic Council – Media mogul Rupert Murdoch, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Atlantic Council president Frederick Kempe and Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Introduction

Think Tanks are powerful organizations that set the policy agenda in the United States and in many other countries. The big think tanks such as Council on Foreign Relations, Brookings Institution, American Enterprise Institute etc decide both the domestic and foreign policy of the United States. Other purposes think tanks serve includes providing the personnel for the administration after an election, people who are members of these big think tanks, go on to hold important positions in the government.
Here is an overview of think tanks.
Table of Contents:
1. What are think tanks and their Importance
2. Classifying think tanks
3. History of think tanks
4. Funding of think tanks
5. Think tank Personnel
6. Think tanks market their Ideas
7. Some of the key think tanks

What are think tanks and their Importance

Think tanks are organizations that conduct research and devise public policies. Think tanks apart from research are also involved in advocacy of their recommended policies. Think Tanks are also called policy institutes and policy making organizations. They research a wide range of topics such as economics, education, health policy, foreign policy, resources and energy policy, defense, population issues, urbanization, scientific policies etc. In fact hundreds of these think tanks research all areas concerning both politics and society. Think tanks are mostly private and nonprofit organizations. According to the 2016 Global Go To Think Tank Index (GGTTI) report, there are about 6846 think tanks around the globe, most of them are located in the US (1835). Think tanks are not homogeneous and vary in terms of size, structure, budget, scope and impact. Name of some of the prominent think tanks are RAND Corporation, Brookings Institution, Council on Foreign Relations, Club of Rome, Hudson Institute, Atlantic Council.
THINK TANKS: THE BRAIN TRUSTS OF THE SHADOW GOVERNMENT Think
                              GGTTI Report showing total think tanks and their distribution.
The word think tank was popularized in the late 1950s to mention policy research organizations. The word has its origin in World War II, where the name was used to refer rooms where strategists discussed war planning.
Here is another description from university of Oxford –
Think tanks are public policy research institutes that seek to play a key role in making and influencing global, regional and national policy. While each think tank serves a specific purpose, they all share a common vision to improve their respective spectrums, as well as being sources of new ideas and research.Think tanks engage in research and advocacy in areas such as social policy, political strategy, the economy, the environment, science and technology, industrial or business policies, military analysis, and many more. Think tank researchers influence public opinion and public policy, which is a different focus from traditional academic research at a university. (source-https://www.careers.ox.ac.uk/think-tanks/)
Think tanks play a central role in the policy making process. Think tanks have often been called factory of ideas and policy mills. Think tanks are essential for the elite’s research and planning.
Think tanks provide the research, analysis, strategies and solutions concerning a wide variety of topics and issues. These elitist think tanks like CFR, AEI, Brookings keep on working on the micro and macro levels of their various agendas around the globe. The think tanks elite set up and continue to fund have millions of dollars in annual budget. The big think tanks have the monetary power and the outreach and easily undermine the smaller think tanks. It doesn’t matter which party comes to power, the ideas, strategies and policies come from these same think tanks. As researcher Laurence H. Shoup writes regarding CFR, the most influential think tank in the world, in his book Wall Street’s Think Tank: The Council on Foreign Relations and the Empire of Neoliberal Geopolitics, 1976-2014 – ” The think tank of monopoly-finance capital, the Council on Foreign Relations is the world’s most powerful private organization. The CFR is the ultimate networking, socializing, strategic-planning, and consensus-forming institution of the U.S. capitalist class. It is the central “high command” organization of the plutocracy that runs the country and much of the world. ”
CFR is just one think tank at the elite’s disposal.
These think tanks plan out everything in advance. As mentioned earlier they have think tanks working on everything like environment, urbanization, immigration and even population control like the Optimum Population Trust now called Population Matters. Think tanks are the brain trusts of the shadow government and what we see happening now was all planned by these think tanks. (such things like urbanization, environmental treaties, privatization, trade deals, open borders, digital society, economic reforms, welfare schemes etc).
Many significant things have emerged from these think tanks. Here are just a few examples.
Council on Foreign Relations: United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund- Following the war’s outbreak, the Council on Foreign Relations launched a massive War and Peace Studies project to explore the desirable foundations of postwar peace. The participants in this effort ultimately produced 682 memoranda for the State Department on topics ranging from the occupation of Germany to the creation of the United Nations. (Source- Richard N. Haass)
Designs for International Monetary Fund and the World Bank emerged from the same study project. Read more here on CFR and the creation of IMF and World Bank.
Brookings Institution: The Marshall Plan- When Congress began to craft the European aid program proposed by Marshall, Senator Arthur H. Vandenberg, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, contacted Brookings President Harold G. Moulton and asked for the Institution’s help.Brookings “immediately responded in the highest spirit of cooperation and diverted its entire staff to this inquiry,” In less than four weeks, on January 22, 1948, Brookings produced a 20-page report, containing eight specific recommendations for the structure, focus, and operating procedures of the Marshall Plan, which was officially named the European Recovery Program. (Source- Brookings Institution)
The Heritage Foundation and Reagan: When President Reagan took office in 1981, he quickly gave every member of his cabinet an 1,100-page book from the Heritage Foundation, Mandate for Leadership, that provided an outline for conservative principles he wished to enact. Of its 2,000 recommendations, roughly 60% were accepted. (Source- Brookings article)
In 1992 a report by think tanks IIE and the Carnegie Endowment proposing an “economic security council.” The incoming Clinton administration implemented this proposal in creating a National Economic Council (a body that continues today). (Source- Richard N. Haass)
The RAND Corporation played a prominent role in the Cold War. The Club of Rome was behind the environmental movement.
New think tanks are formed for the need of the hour, like the Project for the New American Century (PNAC) which was a neoconservative think tank formed in 1997 and was responsible for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It was dissolved it in 2006 after it had served its purpose.
THINK TANKS: THE BRAIN TRUSTS OF THE SHADOW GOVERNMENT 29f7ba9c-b001-11e3-b97c-0025b511226e
Brezinski at a CSIS event
This is how the process works, both domestic and foreign policies are devised by these big think tanks, next the government ministers and officials who are also members of these think tanks, just implement these policies and finally the corporate media sells these policies to the unsuspecting public. Public opinion is necessary to back up these policies, especially those which have to do with wars and radical changes. Corporate media also has ties to these same think tanks. Media owners, editors and journalists are CFR members and also hold membership in other think tanks as well.
Another key point to mention is that these big think tanks like CFR, AEI, Brookings, CSIS, Trilateral Commision etc are interconnected. The big think tanks are closely knit together, through common founders, interlocking directorates, cross membership of people, similar sources of funding.
In this way we have a parallel government and the whole idea of democracy is under question. Think tanks are not accountable to the general public, they only answer to their Donors (which generally includes corporations, foundations and wealthy individuals). So another way to look at this process is – your country’s public policies are brought to you by Fortune 500 corporations, elite grant making foundations like Ford Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, Carnegie Foundation and billionaires like Rothchild, Buffet, Soros etc.

Classifying think tanks

Like their definition and many other things related to them, there is no generally consensus among scholars regarding how to classify think tanks. Here is how I categorize think tanks. Based on location, affiliation, political orientation and area of research. The most precise way to classify them would be by their field of expertise or areas of research. Location, affiliation and political orientation are helpful but don’t tell much about them.
By Location- American think tank, Canadian think tank, British think tank etc. They can have branches in other countries as well. Some American think tanks are Council on Foreign Relations, RAND, Hudson Institute. Examples of some British think tank can be Chatham House, Adam Smith Institute, Demos.
By Affiliation- Are they affiliated to the government, university, political party or some other organization. Some examples
University: The Hoover Institution (Stanford University), The Belfer Center (Harvard University), Center for International Development (Harvard University).
Government: Congressional Research Service (US government), Development Concepts and Doctrine Centre (UK government).
Other Organizations: UN, World Bank, Corporations etc for example United Nations University (UNU), World Bank Institute (WBI).
Independent or no affiliations: CFR, Brookings, CSIS, Heritage Foundation.
By Political Orientation- Think tanks can have political orientation like they can be Libertarian, Liberal, Conservative, Marxist etc. Some examples
Conservative: The Heritage Foundation, Hudson Institute, Hoover Institution, Manhattan Institute
Liberal: The Roosevelt Institution, Institute for Policy Studies, Center for American Progress, Public Citizen.
Libertarian: Cato Institute, Adam Smith Institute, Cascade Policy Institute, Fraser Institute.
Independent: Brookings Institution, Council on Foreign Relations, RAND Corporation.
By Area of Research- What is their main focus. What research they specialize in. Areas like Foreign Policy and International Affairs, Economics, Environmental, Defense and Security, Immigration etc. Although they can and do have multiple areas of research. RAND for example researches many areas including education, economics, social policy etc but nevertheless its main focus is Defense & Security. Some examples
Foreign Policy and International Affairs: CFR,, Atlantic Council, Wilson Centre
Economics: NBER, Cato Institute, Mises Institute
Environment: Aspen Institute, Club of Rome
Defense & Security: RAND, CSIS, Hudson Institute
Social Policy: Brookings Institution, Urban Institute, Kaiser Foundation
Think Tank Networks
Think tanks can even form networks and work together. Below are few think tank networks.
Network of Democracy Research Institutes
Atlas Network
State Policy Network
Stockholm Network

History of think tanks

Independent policy research organizations date back to the 19th century. The Institute for Defence and Security Studies (RUSI) was founded in 1831 in London. The left leaning Fabian Society was formed in 1884 in London as well.
The oldest American think tank, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, was founded in Washington, D.C. in 1910 by philanthropist Andrew Carnegie.
The Brookings Institution was founded shortly thereafter in 1916 by Robert S. Brookings
The Council on Foreign Relations was founded in 1921.
For most of the 20th century, independent public policy institutes that performed research and provided advice concerning public policy were found primarily in the United States, with a much smaller number in Canada, the UK and Western Europe. Although think tanks existed in Japan for some time, they generally lacked independence, having close associations with government ministries or corporations. There has been a veritable proliferation of “think tanks” around the world that began during the 1980s as a result of globalization, the end of the Cold War, and the emergence of transnational problems. Two-thirds of all the think tanks that exist today were established after 1970 and more than half were established since 1980. (source-wiki)
THINK TANKS: THE BRAIN TRUSTS OF THE SHADOW GOVERNMENT Maxresdefault
Kerry speaking at Carnegie Endowment, the oldest think tank in US.

Funding of think tanks

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