{"id":962,"date":"2014-04-28T17:28:19","date_gmt":"2014-04-28T17:28:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/onthinktanks.org\/?p=962"},"modified":"2016-01-06T18:03:46","modified_gmt":"2016-01-06T18:03:46","slug":"corporate-interests-and-think-tanks-an-overview-of-current-debates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/onthinktanks.org\/articles\/corporate-interests-and-think-tanks-an-overview-of-current-debates\/","title":{"rendered":"Corporate interests and think tanks: an overview of current debates"},"content":{"rendered":"

[Editor\u2019s note: This post was first published by Transpirify, an initiative that is part of the family of\u00a0On Think Tanks Lab<\/a>.\u00a0Transparify\u00a0<\/a>provides the first-ever global rating of the financial transparency of 150+ major think tanks. Transparify is using a robust rating methodology, assigning five stars to the most transparent institutions. The aim is to improve the impact and the credibility of policy research, by making it more accountable.]<\/em><\/p>\n

This is a question that\u00a0concerns many think tanks across the world. To be sustainable they have to court the private sector (this is where the money is, after all), whether directly or indirectly by means of their foundations. But, as any half-baked economics think tanks would know: there is no such thing as a free lunch. So: how to get funded and remain independent (or at least\u00a0intellectually autonomous)?<\/p>\n

Transparify, a new initiative led by\u00a0Hans Gutbrod<\/a>\u00a0and Co (and supported by On Think Tanks -we are always looking for new ideas) tackles this issue head on with a simple proposition: transparency will set you free. Many think tanks that claim to be independent because they do not take money from corporations take, instead, funds from their governments or from foreign Aid agencies that they are then incapable of questioning in public. And even more who claim to be free from corporate interests delve into the world of consultancies from time to time (and often more often than they would like to say) to pay the bills -and a bit more.<\/p>\n

The following post provides an introduction to an annotated bibliography developed by the Transparify\u00a0team that is worth having a look at:<\/p>\n

How and why do corporations fund think tanks? How do think tanks manage potential conflicts of interest? How transparent and traceable is corporate funding to think tanks?In order to answer these questions, Transparify has located, compiled and reviewed dozens of media stories and research papers. Today, we release the results of our work, an annotated bibliography on \u201cCorporate Interests and Think Tanks\u201d. This is the fourth and last in our\u00a0series of think tank bibliographies<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Most authors suggest that many corporations fund think tanks out of strategic self-interest. For example,financial industry players in both the\u00a0US<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0UK<\/a>\u00a0are thought to systematically support think tanks that produce work that\u00a0furthers their sponsors\u2019 agendas<\/a>\u00a0within a context characterised by\u00a0intensive lobbying efforts across multiple fronts<\/a>. Corporations\u2019 possible influence on energy policy and climate change debates\u00a0via their funding of think tanks has drawn particular attention. For example, one author claims that \u201cclimate change denial\u201d by think tanks has been funded via trusts that enabled their donors to remain anonymous and untraceable despite\u00a0over one hundred million dollars<\/a>\u00a0allegedly passing through such channels. Another retorts that the renewable energy industry too has vested interests, and that it sometimes\u00a0promotes and defends these interests<\/a>\u00a0by\u2026 you guessed it\u2026 funding policy wonks. A third observer alleges that calls for financial disclosure by think tanks engaged in climate change debates have\u00a0often been one-eyed as well as one-sided<\/a>. (Here at Transparify, we simply believe that all think tanks should fully disclose who funds them, regardless of the policy stances that they take.)<\/p>\n

Possible conflicts of interest also lurk when think tanks weigh in on questions of war and peace. In a recent guest blog on our website, Gin Armstrong explored such possible conflicts of interest that may have been at play when think tank experts with defence industry ties took to the airwaves in 2013 to discuss US military strikes against Syria. In recent days, she has voiced similar concerns with regard to\u00a0policy advice being proffered on the ongoing crisis in Ukraine<\/a>. Mind you, in an industry dependent on public sector contracts that is notorious for its revolving doors, even\u00a0public funding for think tanks<\/a>has not been immune against suspicions of self-interested dealings.Does the tobacco industry really\u00a0employ think tanks as mercenaries<\/a>\u00a0to fight on its behalf? Do car manufacturers really pay think tanks to talk governments into\u00a0bailing them out with public funds<\/a>? Indeed, can any think tank still accept funding from any source without immediately coming under suspicion of having been \u201cbought\u201d by some public or private vested interest?<\/p>\n

We at Transparify don\u2019t have the answers. For us, this little media review yields one conclusion: the think tank community may soon face a comprehensive crisis of credibility. If current trends continue, even the most sophisticated and methodologically scrupulous policy research outfits will find it hard to get their findings, ideas and policy recommendations taken at face value.In an environment increasingly characterised by finger pointing, suspicion and paranoia, think tanks committed to intellectual independence and excellence in research need a way to actively signal to policy makers and the media that they deserve their trust and respect.<\/p>\n

Transparify\u2019s aim is to provide think tanks with a tool for signalling their credibility: a policy research institution publicly recognized for its\u00a0exemplary financial transparency<\/a>\u00a0can hardly be accused of harbouring \u201chidden\u201d agendas.<\/p>\n

(For your reference, the bibliography discussed above is\u00a0accessible here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To be sustainable think tanks have to court the private sector (this is where the money is, after all), whether directly or indirectly by means of their foundations. But, as any half-baked economics think tanks would know: there is no such thing as a free lunch. So: how to get funded and remain independent (or at least intellectually autonomous)? Tranfarify offers some answers (and a lot more questions).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"tags":[181,185],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/onthinktanks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/962"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/onthinktanks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/onthinktanks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onthinktanks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onthinktanks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=962"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/onthinktanks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/962\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/onthinktanks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onthinktanks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}