Singapore think tanks in Asian top 10

Singapore has two of the top 10 Asian think tanks, according to the Think Tank Index (see previous post). The Institute of Southeast Asian Studies ranks seventh and the Institute for Defense and Strategic Studies tenth.

The Think Tank Index, the first comprehensive rankings of think tanks worldwide, appears in the the latest issue of the Foreign Policy magazine. Based on a worldwide survey of hundreds of scholars and experts, the index was compiled by James G. McGann, assistant director of the University of Pennsylvania International Relations Program and director of the Think Tanks and Civil Society Program at Penn.

While the Foreign Policy magazine contains only the highlights, the full report containing all the rankings can be downloaded at Penn’s International Relations website.

The top 25 Asian think tanks

1. Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) – China
2. Japan Institute of International Affairs (JIIA) – Japan
3. Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses – India
4. Center for Strategic and International Studies – Indonesia
5. Institute for International Policy Studies – Japan
6. Shanghai Institute for International Studies - China
7. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies -- Singapore
8. Center for Civil Society – India
9. China Institute for Contemporary International Relations (CICIR) –
China
10. Institute for Defense and Strategic Studies – Singapore
11. The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) – India
12. Asian Forum Japan (AFJ) – Japan
13. China Institute for International Studies (CIIS) – China
14. Lowy Institute for International Policy - Australia
15. Cathay Institute for Public Affairs – China
16. Korea Development Institute – South Korea
17. National Institute for Defense Studies – Japan
18. National Institute for Research Advancement - Japan
19. Hong Kong Centre for Economic Research (HKCER) - Hong Kong
20. Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI) - Japan
21. Taiwan Foundation for Democracy – Taiwan
22. Unirule Institute of Economics – China
23. Institute of Energy Economics Japan (IEEJ) – Japan
24. Liberty Institute – India
25 (tie) Malaysian Institute of Economic Research (MIER) – Malaysia
25 (tie). Philippine Institute for Development Studies – Philippines
25 (tie) Third World Network – Malaysia

McGann writes:

Asian think tanks often focus on economic, strategic and security issues within the region, yet they sometimes are more constrained than their European counterparts because of their close ties to government.

The Asian think tanks have some way to go to catch up with their US and European counterparts.

The top 10 think tanks worldwide (non-US) are:

1. Chatham House (UK)
2. International Institute for Strategic Studies (UK)
3. Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sweden)
4. Overseas Development Institute (UK)
5. Centre for European Policy Studies (Belgium)
6. Transparency International (Germany)
7. German Council on Foreign Relations (Germany)
8. German Institute for International and Security Affairs (Germany)
9. French Institute of International Relations (France)
10. Adam Smith Institute (UK)

The top 10 US think tanks are:

1. Brookings Institution
2. Council on Foreign Relations
3. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
4. RAND Corporation
5. Heritage Foundation
6. Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
7. Center for Strategic and International Studies
8. American Enterprise Institute
9. Cato Institute
10 (tie) Hoover Institution
10 (tie) Human Rights Watch

McGann writes:

Think tanks from the US were not included in the top 10 and 50 because I felt it might have a distorting effect on the results and the objective was to identify the leading think tanks outside of the United States.