Brookings Institution

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The Brookings Institution is a nonprofit policy studies think tank based in Washington, D.C..[1] Brookings is devoted to public service through research and education in the social sciences, particularly in economics, government, and foreign policy.[2] It is the oldest think tank in the United States. Its stated principal purpose is "to aid in the development of sound public policies and to promote public understanding of issues of national importance."

The organization is currently headed by Strobe Talbott, a former Clinton administration appointee in the U.S. State Department. Carlos Pascual, the former Ambassador to Ukraine, serves as Vice President of Brookings and as the Director of the Foreign Policy Studies program.

Contents

Brookings publishes the Brookings Papers on Economic Activity (twice a year) and an Annual Report. Its main focus is on the production of policy briefs, books, OpEds, and project papers prepared by its scholars. These papers and books are published by the Brookings Institution Press and are also posted on the Brookings website.

Of the 200 most prominent think tanks in the U.S., the Brookings Institution's studies are the most widely cited by the media,[3] and the third most-cited of all public policy institutes by Members of Congress, behind only the Heritage Foundation and the American Civil Liberties Union.[4] In a 1997 survey of congressional staff and journalists, Brookings ranked first in credibility among 27 think tanks.[5]

Brookings is often described as an "independent research and policy institute with a left-liberal inclination."[6][7][8][9] Time Magazine has described them as the "nation's pre-eminent liberal think tank".[10] They have also been described by progressive media watchdog group Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting as politically centrist.[3] Its scholars, both liberal and conservative, are cited with equal frequency by Democratic and Republican members of Congress.[11] Its board of Trustees comes from across the country and the political spectrum, including prominent Republicans such as Kenneth Duberstein, a former chief of staff to Ronald Reagan, and prominent Democrats, such as former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers. Its scholars include former government officials hailing from both Democratic and Republican administrations, as well as many who have not served in government and do not advertise a party affiliation.

Along with the American Enterprise Institute and Heritage Foundation, Brookings is generally considered one of the three most influential policy institutes in the U.S. By comparison, the American Enterprise Institute is considered conservative/free market and Heritage Foundation considered more right-wing. All three organizations are nominally non-partisan, as required by their non-profit organizational status.[12]

The Brookings Institution close to Dupont Circle
The Brookings Institution close to Dupont Circle

Brookings was founded in 1916, when a group of reformers founded the Institute for Government Research (IGR), the first private organization devoted to analyzing public policy issues at the national level.[13]

The Institution's founder, philanthropist Robert S. Brookings (1850–1932), originally financed the formation of three organizations: the Institute for Government Research, the Institute of Economics, and the Robert Brookings Graduate School. The three were merged into the Brookings Institution in 1927.

During the Great Depression economists at Brookings embarked on a large scale study commissioned by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to understand the underlying causes of the depression. Brookings' first president Harold Moulton and other Brookings' scholars later led an effort to oppose President Roosevelt's New Deal policies because they believed such measures were actually impeding economic recovery.[14] With the outbreak of World War II, Brookings researchers turned their attention to aiding the administration with a series of studies on mobilization.

In 1948, Brookings was asked to submit a plan for the administration of the European Recovery Program. The resulting organization scheme assured that the Marshall Plan was run carefully and on a businesslike basis.[15]

In 1952, Robert Calkins succeeded Moulton as president of the Brookings Institution. He secured grants from the Rockefeller and Ford Foundations that put the Institution on a strong financial basis. He reorganized the Institution around the Economic Studies, Government Studies, and Foreign Policy Progams. In 1957, the Institution moved from Jackson Avenue to a new research center near Dupont Circle on Massachusetts Avenue.[16]

Kermit Gordon assumed the presidency of Brookings in 1967. He began a series of studies of program choices for the federal budget in 1969 entitled "Setting National Priorities". He also expanded the Foreign Policy Studies Program to include research in national security and defense. After the election of Richard Nixon to the presidency in 1968, the relationship between the Brookings Institution and the White House deteriorated. Yet throughout the 1970s, Brookings was offered more federal research contracts than it could handle.[17]

By the 1980s, the Institution faced an increasingly competitive and ideologically charged intellectual environment. The need to reduce the federal budget deficit became a major research theme as well as investigating problems with national security and government inefficiency. Bruce MacLaury, fourth president of Brookings, also established the Center for Public Policy Education to develop workshop conferences and public forums to broaden the audience for research programs.[18]

In 1995, Michael Armacost became the fifth president of the Brookings Institution and led an effort to refocus the Institution's mission heading into the 21st Century. Under Armacost's direction, Brookings created several interdisciplinary research centers such as the Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy, which has brought attention to the plight of cities, and the Center for Northeast Asian Policy Studies, which brings together specialists from different Asian countries to examine regional problems.

Strobe Talbott became president of Brookings in 2002. Shortly thereafter, Brookings launched the Saban Center for Middle East Policy and the John L. Thornton China Center. In July 2007, the Institution announced the creation of the Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform to be directed by senior fellow Mark McClellan.

During the administration of President Richard M. Nixon, Brookings was named to Nixon's famous enemies list, due to its criticism of Nixon's domestic and foreign policies. Nixon-administration advisor Charles Colson even proposed firebombing the Brookings Institution and stealing politically damaging documents while firefighters put the fire out.[19][20][21][22]

Brookings focuses on five main areas of research: Economic Studies, Foreign Policy, Governance, Global Economy and Development, and Metropolitan Policy.

The five main programs include the following:

Policy centers include the following:

The Saban Center for Middle East Policy was founded by a grant from Mr. Haim Saban in 2002.[23] The Saban Center has helped the Brookings Institution to dramatically expand its research and analysis of Middle East policy issues. In September 2006, Brookings announced the founding of The John L. Thornton China Center, a major new center focused on the study of Chinese politics and policy, with support from former President and COO of Goldman Sachs John L. Thornton. In November 2006, Brookings announced the opening of its first-ever overseas center, the Brookings-Tsinghua Center at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China. Brookings-Tsinghua Center In July 2007, the Institution announced the creation of the Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform to be directed by senior fellow Mark McClellan.

Brookings currently has over 140 resident and nonresident scholars.[24] Some of Brookings' notable resident scholars:

Previous scholars include Under-Secretary-General of the Department of Political Affairs at the UN Ibrahim Gambari. Stéphane Dion, leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and Leader of the Official Opposition also served as a senior research fellow.

At the end of 2004 the Brookings Institution had assets of $258 million. It spent $39.7 million in that year. According to its annual report,[25] the largest contributors in that year included the Pew Charitable Trusts, the MacArthur Foundation, and the Carnegie Corporation; the governments of the United States, Japan, and the United Kingdom. Others can be found listed at mediatransparency.org.

  1. ^ About Brookings,
  2. ^ "Brookings Institution" Encyclopedia Britannica.
  3. ^ a b Study Finds First Drop in Think Tank Cites By Michael Dolny, FAIR, May/June 2006
  4. ^ "A Measure of Media Bias" by Tim Groseclose and Jeff Milyo, September 2003.
  5. ^ War of Ideas: Why mainstream and liberal foundations and the think tanks they support are losing in the war of ideas in American politics By Andrew Rich, Stanford Social Innovation Review, Spring 2006.
  6. ^ Google directory
  7. ^ Houghton Mifflin College Division
  8. ^ ABC-Directory
  9. ^ dmoz - Open directory project
  10. ^ The Other Think Tank, Time Magazine, Monday, Sep. 19, 1977
  11. ^ "A Measure of Media Bias" by Tim Groseclose and Jeff Milyo, September 2003.
  12. ^ Happy Birthday, Heritage Foundation by Jacob Weisberg, Slate, January 9, 1998
  13. ^ Brookings Institution History Brookings Institute.
  14. ^ Brookings History: The Depression.
  15. ^ Brookings History: War and Readjustment.
  16. ^ Brookings History: Academic Prestige.
  17. ^ Brookings History: National Doubts and Confusion.
  18. ^ Brookings History: Setting New Agendas.
  19. ^ Democracy Now! interview with John Dean and Daniel Ellsberg
  20. ^ 'Insanity' in Nixon's White House Los Angeles Times, February 18, 2003.
  21. ^ LA Times Archives - Insanity' in Nixon's White House Presidential scholars hear about 1971 plan to firebomb a think tank, from John Dean.
  22. ^ Dean, John. Blind Ambition, 1976, ISBN 0-671-81248-3. p 35–39.
  23. ^ "Brookings Announces New Saban Center for Middle East Policy" Brookings Institute, May 9, 2002.
  24. ^ List of Brooking's scholars Brooking Institute
  25. ^ Brooking's annual report Brookings Institute

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