Top Think Tanks – The University of Pennsylvania ratings

The University of Pennsylvania released its annual think tank rankings – the 11th version of its extensive rankings of the world’s think tanks.

As always, it is no surprise that the Brookings Institution remains the world’s #1 think tank, particularly since they were the ones who recently published a book by the UPenn professor who runs the rankings (more on that here).

Top Think Tank Worldwide (US & Non-US):

  1. Brookings Institution
  2. French Institute of International Relations (IFRI)
  3. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
  4. Bruegel
  5. Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
  6. Chatham House
  7. Fundacao Getulio Vargas
  8. Heritage Foundation
  9. RAND Corporation
  10. International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS)

 
Top Think Tanks in the US:

  1. Brookings Institution
  2. CSIS
  3. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
  4. Heritage
  5. Wilson Center
  6. RAND Corp.
  7. Center for American Progress (CAP)
  8. Council on Foreign Relations (CFR)
  9. Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE)
  10. Cato Institute

Top Think Tanks in Mexico and Canada:

  1. Fraser Institute
  2. Fundar, Centro de Analisis e Investigacion
  3. Institute for Research on Public Policy
  4. Mexico Evalua Centro de Analisis de Politicas Publicas
  5. Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI)

Top Think Tanks in Central and South America:

  1. Fundacao Getulia Vargas
  2. Fedesarrollo
  3. Centro Brasileiro de Relacoes Internacionais (CEBRI)
  4. Consejo Argentino para las Relaciones Internacionales (CARI)
  5. Centro de Implementacion de Politicas Publicas para la Equidad y el Crecimiento (CIPPEC)

Top Think Tanks in Sub-Saharan Africa:

  1. Botswana Institute for Development Policy Analysis (BIDPA)
  2. African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD)
  3. IMANI Center for Policy and Education
  4. Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA)
  5. Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis (KIPPRA)

Top Think Tanks in Central Asia:

  1. Center for Economic and Social Development (CESD)
  2. Kazakhstan Institute for Strategic Studies
  3. Caucasus Institute for Peace, Democracy and Development (CIPDD)
  4. Caucuses Research Resource Center (CRRC)
  5. Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit (AREU)

Top Think Tanks in China, Japan, India, and South Korea:

  1. Korea Development Institute (KDI)
  2. Japan Institute of International Affairs (JIIA)
  3. Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP)
  4. China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations (CICIR)
  5. Observer Research Foundation (ORF)

Top Think Tanks in Southeast Asia and the Pacific:

  1. Institute of Defense and Strategic Studies (IDSS)
  2. Australian Institute for International Affairs (AIIA)
  3. Centre for Strategic Studies (CSS)
  4. Centre for Public Policy Studies (CPPS)
  5. Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)

Top Think Tanks in Central and Eastern Europe:

  1. Center for Social and Economic Research (CASE)
  2. Carnegie Moscow Center
  3. Institute of World Economy and International Relations
  4. Razumkov Centre
  5. EUROPEUM Institute for European Policy

Top Think Tanks in Western Europe:

  1. French Institute of International Relations (IFRI)
  2. Bruegel
  3. Chatham House
  4. Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS)
  5. Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS)

Top Think Tanks in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA):

  1. Center for Strategic Studies (CSS)
  2. Institute for National Security Studies (INSS)
  3. Carnegie Middle East Center
  4. Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies (ACPSS)
  5. Al Jazeera Cenre for Studies (AJCS)

Top Defense and National Security Think Tanks:

  1. Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
  2. International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS)
  3. RAND Corporation
  4. Brookings Institution
  5. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Top Domestic Economic Policy Think Tanks:

  1. Brookings
  2. Adam Smith Institute (ASI)
  3. National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)
  4. PIIE
  5. Heritage Foundation

Top Education Policy Think Tanks:

  1. National Institute for Education Policy Research
  2. Urban Institute
  3. Brookings
  4. RAND Corp.
  5. Center for Education Policy, SRI International

Top Energy and Resource Policy Think Tanks:

  1. James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy
  2. Institute of Energy Economics
  3. Oxford Institute for Energy Studies
  4. Korea Energy Economics Institute
  5. Center for Science of Environment, Resources and Energy

Top Environment Policy Think Tanks:

  1. Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
  2. Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI)
  3. World Resources Institute
  4. Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES)
  5. E3G – Third Generation Environmentalism

Top Foreign Policy and International Affairs Think Tanks:

  1. Brookings
  2. French Institute of International Relations
  3. Chatham House
  4. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
  5. CSIS

Top Domestic Health Policy Think Tanks:

  1. Cambridge Centre for Health Services Research
  2. Bloomberg School of Public Health Research Centers
  3. Health and Global Policy Institute
  4. RAND Corp.
  5. Philips Center for Health and Well-Being

Top Global Health Policy Think Tanks:

  1. Cambridge Centre for Health Services Research
  2. Bloomberg School of Public Health Research Centers
  3. CSIS
  4. Health and Global Policy Institute (HGPI)
  5. Chatham House, Centre on Global Health Security

Top International Economics Think Tanks:

  1. PIIE
  2. Bruegel
  3. Brookings
  4. Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies
  5. Korea Institute for Economic Policy

Top Science and Technology Think Tanks:

  1. Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF)
  2. Max Planck Institutes
  3. Science Policy Research Unit
  4. Institute for Future Engineering; FKA Institute for Future Technology
  5. RAND Corp.

Top Social Policy Think Tanks:

  1. Urban Institute
  2. Center for Social and Economic Research (CASE)
  3. Brookings
  4. Fraser Institute
  5. Fundacao Getulio Vargas

Best For-Profit Think Tanks:

  1. McKinsey Global Institute
  2. Economist Intelligence United
  3. Boston Consulting Group
  4. A.T. Kearney Global Business Policy Center
  5. Nomura Research Institute

Best Government-Affiliated Think Tanks:

  1. Development Research Group, World Bank
  2. Asian Development Bank Institute
  3. Congressional Research Service (CRS)
  4. World Bank Institute (WBI)
  5. German Development Institute (DIE)

Here is a look at the cheat sheet for the 2017 rankings and here is the 2016 cheat sheet, compiled by Think Tank Watch.

Remember, you may want to be careful about reading too much into these rankings, which have numerous flaws and biases.

According to the report, the world now has a whopping 7,815 think tanks, with 1,872 of those in the United States and 512 in China.

* This article was originally published on ThinkTankWatch.

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