Three Philippines-based think tanks were deemed as among the region’s best according to the 2013 Global Go Think Tank Report released by the Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program (TTCSP) of the University of Pennsylvania.
The three think tanks–Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS), Institute for Strategic and Development Studies (ISDS), and state-run Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS)–were included in the report.
"The 2013 Global Go To Think Tank Index [GGTTTI] marks the seventh year of continued efforts by the Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program at the University of Pennsylvania to acknowledge the important contributions and emerging global trends of think tanks worldwide,” the report stated.
"Since its inception, our ongoing objective for the GGTTTI report is to gain understanding of the role think tanks play in governments and civil societies. Using this knowledge, we hope to assist in improving the capacity and performance of think tanks around the world,” it added.
The ISIS and ISDS were included in the list of top think tanks in Asia and the Pacific–excluding China, India, Japan and the Republic of Korea. ISIS ranked 12th, while ISDS was ranked 19th out of the top 40 in the region.
The government think tank PIDS, on the other hand, ranked 70th in the 80 Top International Development Think Tanks and ranked 37th out of the 50 included in the Top Social Policy Think Tanks.
The PIDS said it surpassed the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore, which was ranked 41st. PIDS also managed to improve its position from 40th place in last year’s report.
The top 5 think tanks in the region were the Singapore Institute of International Affairs, followed by the Centre for Strategic Studies from New Zealand; Lowy Institute from Australia; Australian Institute for International Affairs; and East Asian Institute in Singapore.
The top 5 Top International Development Think Tanks were dominated by United States-based institutions, starting with the Brookings Institution; Center for International Development also from the United States; United Kingdom-based Overseas Development Institute; Center for Global Development in the United States; and Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in the United States.
The Top 5 Social Policy Think Tanks, on the other hand, are the US-based Brookings Institution; US-based Urban Institute; US-based RAND Corp.; Canada-based Fraser Institute; and Poland-based Center for Social and Economic Research.
This year, some 6,826 think tanks from 182 countries were appraised. The TTSCP assembled expert panels comprised of hundreds of members from a wide variety of backgrounds and disciplines.
Further, TTSCP added that new media–the web site and social-media presence–helped them communicate and disseminate information about the criteria for this year’s index to a wider audience.
