Think Tanks and Policy

Think tanks are nonprofit organizations that conduct research and advocate policy ideas. The first wave, in the Progressive Era, aimed to bring expertise to government: the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in 1910, the Institute for Government Research in 1916, which became the Brookings Institution, and the Council on Foreign Relations in 1921. After World War II the RAND Corporation, founded in 1948, pioneered contract research for the military. The American Enterprise Institute, founded in 1938, grew into a leading conservative voice.

A newer generation of openly ideological advocacy think tanks emerged in the 1970s, including the Heritage Foundation in 1973 and the libertarian Cato Institute in 1977, followed by groups on the left such as the Center for American Progress in 2003. Heritage's Mandate for Leadership, published for the incoming Reagan administration in 1981, became a model for detailed transition plans. Its Project 2025, released in 2023, proposed extensive changes to the executive branch, and many of its ideas and authors have been reflected in the second Trump administration.

Think tanks influence policy by publishing research, testifying before Congress, drafting legislation, briefing reporters, and serving as places where officials work between administrations. More than 1,000 think tanks operate in the United States, with many concentrated in Washington. Supporters say they supply ideas and expertise that government and universities do not, and provide a home for policy debate. Critics say some function as advocates for donors, including corporations and foreign governments, without full disclosure of their funding, and that partisan think tanks blur the line between research and lobbying.