Think+Tanks

Think tanks are groups of analysts or scholars who usually specialize in particular research areas. These scholars then write essays, compile reports and/or testify before Congress on important legislation in their area. Often these scholars will write analysis of their issue and the election. These think tanks usually have a particular political leaning. You should not think this means the think tanks are “biased”. Instead, it just means that the think tank is writing from a particular political mindset. This helps you to seek out information that will help your research.

**General/multipurpose think tanks—these think tanks study both domestic and foreign issues**
Heritage Foundation (conservative think tank) www.heritage.org Cato Institute (libertarian think tank) [|www.cato.org] Brookings Institution (moderate to liberal think tank) www.brookings.edu Rand Corporation www.rand.org National Center for Policy Analysis (libertarian) [|www.ncpa.org] American Enterprise Institute (conservative) [|www.aei.org] Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise (conservative) [|www.cdfe.org] Institute for Policy Studies (progressive, focus on social justice environment) [|www.ips-dc.org] World Resources Institute (this is a great environmental website, including section labeled Earthtrends [] Progressive Policy (progressive) Institute [|www.ppionline.org] Sierra Club (environmental focus, moderate) [|www.sierraclub.org] Center for the Study of the Presidency (non-partisan) [|http://www.thepresidency.org] Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies great cite with links to lots of things (especially if you scroll down past the party websites): []

**Foreign Policy/military think tanks—**
Council on Foreign Relations [] Center for Strategic and International Studies [] Federation of American Scientists [] Nuclear Threat Initiative [] Wilson Center http://www.wilsoncenter.org/ Arms Control Association [] Global Policy Forum [] Global Security [] Strategic Studies Institute [] Army War College [] US Naval War College [] East West Institute []
 * these think tanks tend not to have a right/left designation (although may advocate for hawkish/dovish foreign policy and/or US unilateralism versus multialateralism)**

**You can also access a comprehensive listing of think tanks, categorized by topic at**
Foreign Policy Research Institute search page []