IDSA among top 10 in Asia
The Think Tanks and Civil Society Programme at the University of Pennsylvania, in its fourth annual survey of leading think tanks in the world – The Global ‘Go-To’ Think Tanks 2009: The Leading Public Policy Research Organisations in the World has ranked IDSA at the 9th position among the top 40 think tanks in Asia and at the 45th position among the top 50 think tanks in the world (non-US).
Only four other think tanks from Asia make it to the list of top 50 think tanks in the world (non-US), headed by Chatham House, United Kingdom and including the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (15); Japan Institute for International Affairs (19); Centre for Strategic and International Studies, Indonesia (31); and Shanghai Institute for International Studies (34).
Institutions from India that figure among the top 40 think tanks in Asia are the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA); Centre for Policy Research (11); Centre for Civil Society (13); Liberty Institute (16); Indian Council for Research in International Economic Relations (21); Centre for Development Studies (25); The Energy and Resources Institute (27); Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies (31); and the Institute of Economic Growth (38).
Brookings Institution maintained its position as the top think tank in the world, while Japan Institute of International Affairs was ranked as the top think tank in Asia. The Council on Foreign Relations was judged the top think tank on issues dealing with Security and International Affairs and the Centre for American Progress was ranked as the think tank having the most impact on policy.
The report notes that Asia has nearly 20 per cent of the total think tanks in the world (1183 out of 6035) and India with 261 think tanks has the fourth largest number of think tanks in the world, after the United States (1815); China (428); and the United Kingdom (285).
The ranking process involved three different stages wherein 6,305 think tanks in 169 countries were identified. Out of this universe, 329 organisations were nominated and ranked according to Research Area, Region, and Special Achievement, by over 1200 peer institutions and experts on the basis of criteria like research output, policy impact, outreach and communication, among others.
