Founded in 1916, the Brookings Institution became America’s first think tank -- an organization that devoted itself to the study of national public policy. Today, Brookings is just one of some 1,800 think tanks operating across the United States.
Over the years, these organizations have built themselves as major research institutions, dedicated to studying and advocating for some of America’s greatest social, political, and economic policy issues.
Recently, however, some have begun to question whether that role has changed, whether think tanks have become more susceptible to the influences and ideologies of their corporate donors.
Shortly after this episode aired, the New York Times released a report on foreign influence at think tanks.
More than a dozen prominent Washington research groups have received tens of millions of dollars from foreign governments in recent years while pushing United States government officials to adopt policies that often reflect the donors’ priorities, an investigation by The New York Times has found.
This episode originally aired on August 28, 2014.
GUESTS:
- Robert Samuelson - Columnist for The Washington Post
- Ken Silverstein - Former Washington Editor of Harper's Magazine; Senior Investigative Reporter at First Look Media; author of Pay to Play Think Tanks: Institutional Corruption and the Industry Ideas
- James McGann, Ph.D. - Senior Lecturer of International Studies and Director of the Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program at the University of Pennsylvania
- Carol Platt Liebau - President of the Yankee Institute for Public Policy
