Think Tanks and their role in the foreign policy of the United States of America
Dr. Yousra Sattar
Centers of Thoughtand their role in making foreign policy of the United States of America
Think Tank:-
Any researcher or specialist in American affairs can notice that the policy of the United States of America since the eighties of the last century and its aftermath is only the outcome of the opinions and proposals of think tanks, and these centers have received great attention and on a large scale in the last decades of the twentieth century if they have become an alternative to important alternatives in the process of development of the state and its evaluation of scientific research and foresight for the future, according to For a scientific and cognitive perspective, these centers have a leading role in leading global policies, and they have become at the same time an inseparable part of the political development scene in many countries, especially the developed ones.Accordingly, think tanks in these countries have become one of the main actors in drawing political, economic and social trends, and also one of the influencers in them, and accordingly, think tanks have drawn for themselves a pivotal role and succeeded in formulating the foreign policy of developed countries in general and the United States of America. In particular, it has played a prominent role in many issues of U.S. foreign policy in international affairs, and has succeeded in shaping how the United States deals with the world for nearly 100 years, thus dynamically affecting U.S. foreign policy decision-makersand remote means.. The orientations of American policy are not limited to politicians and parties only, but the greatest influence on the policy of the United States of America towards domestic and foreign issues usually comes from centers or fuses of thought, which produce a large amount of research and studies, to form an information base and strategy for parties and governments. Think tanks are characterized by several features:
The think tank is a permanent body.
- Specializes in the production of public policy solutions.
- Provides an original product of thinking, analysis and advice.
- Directs his message to the rulers and public opinion.
- Not assigned to accomplish government tasks.
- It generally seeks to maintain its cultural independence and is not linked to specific interests.
- His work has an apparent or hidden ambition to work on a concept of the common good, other than bodies whose goal is trade and profit only.
The role and impact of these centers varies greatly between Western countries and the United States of America, and their impact also varies in third world countries, and in light of this, there are many roles played by these centers in accordance withthe general policy of the countries as follows:
1. Providing advisory services to the government sector and takes several forms:
A. Assigning specialized individuals toprepare focused and specialized reports for decision-makers and senior leaders.
B. Assigning experts to review and revise the special reports prepared for senior leadership.
C. Assigning research teams to evaluate sensitive issues or the subject of controversy, and this advisory role takes the character of summarizing problems, analyzing them, developing solutions and treatments for them, and most often with hot and urgent issues .
2. Practicing political diplomacy through its advisors, experts and academics working in it by the Ministry of Foreign Affairsand other security institutions.
3. Work as consultants andexperts, represented in official visits to some countries with senior officials or official delegations in order to discuss a specific issue.
4. The practice of political mediation is connected directly or indirectly between political figures and senior officials, especially foreign or international figures, in order to identify their opinions and political points of view by inviting them to conferences and seminars held by these centers.
5. Future studies or what is known as future foresight, especially with the development of futurology in the Western world, whose results have become part of the basic requirements for strategic planning for developed countries.
6. Rationalize or rationalize decision-making by reducing the risk of potential mistakes or failures when decision-makers or through the preparation of public policies and good planning.
There is no general and comprehensive definition of these centers, and the reason for this is that most institutions and centers that fall within the scope of think tanks do not show themselves as think tanks, but rather identify themselves as non-governmental organizations (NGO) or non-profit organizations, but despite this problem, these centers have received several definitions, including:
It is any organization or institution that claims to be a center for research and studies or a center for analysis on an important public issue, while others define it as organizations that carry out political research activities under the umbrella of education and enlightenment of civil society in general and provide advice to decision-makers in particular. It expresses a certain partisan orientation, but this does not negate the ideological character
The United States of America is the leader in the field of strategic thinking, as it has a wide network of research centers, the number of which in 2020 reached 1871 centers. Which faces US policy in various parts of the world and think tanks are important institutions that play a prominent role in the formulation of US foreign policy in general and towards the Middle East in particular, as these institutions give a number of advantages to those who make political decisions, they generate new ideas for decision-makers in American policy and provide experts to work in Congress, and they secure experts for policymakers to find a common understanding on various political options, as well as It also provides the possibility of a third party to mediate between the conflicting parties.
These centers appeared with the First World War and their role increased after the end of the Cold War and began to appear American par excellence and there is a feature that distinguishes American think tanks from other countries is their ability to participate directly and indirectly in policy-making, as well as the presence of a willingness by decision-makers to resort to those centers in order to take their advice, as these centers include in their membership influential figures who sit on the pyramid of American power
Examples of think tanks in the United States of America
1.This institution was founded in 1910 and considers itself one of the most important non-profit organizations established by the Carnegie steel industry pole in Pittsburgh to research the causes of wars and encourage peaceful solutions to resolve crises, and has programs aimed at achieving practical results in the field of cooperation and peace through research and its impact extends to different regions of the world, and it has established a Middle East research center in Beirut in order to closely monitor events in the region. 2006, the stated goal of which is to identify the challenges that hinder political and economic development in the region, and the hidden goal is to deepen understanding of complex economic and security issues that have an impact on the reality and future of the region and its implications for American interests.
2. Hoover Institution for War, Revolution and Peace: - Founded by US President Herbert Hoover in 1919.
3 .Rand Corporation:-
This institution was founded in 1948 with the aim of protecting the security interests of the United States of America in the nuclear age and has won financial support from the Air Force Staff and published for his benefit many studies in systems analysis, and this institution is one of the ancient institutions among the research centers where more than a thousand researchers work with a budget of more than 100 million dollars
4.The Foundation for Strategic and International Studies, based in Washington, was established in 1962 and includes many specialized programs in global affairs, including the Middle East.
The mechanism of influence of think tanks on American policy-making
It is very difficult to determine the nature of the role played by think tanks on the policy-making and decision-making process in the United States of America, and the reason for this is due to the ambiguous nature of the decision-making process in it, but it can be said that these centers are an important source of information and analysis through research and studies, affecting society and the state in general and in different ways that may be direct or indirect
These centers are decision-making by laying the intellectual, philosophical, social and economic foundations for the main programs and policies, as for the impact of these institutions and centers in making decisions about American foreign policy, despite the spread of these centers in many countries of the world, that American think tanks are distinguished from others by their enormous impact on American foreign policy-making, as Richard Hassen said that these centers become eyes and ears of the US government in the most difficult times for of American policies in the world. Therefore, these institutions have helped successive US administrations in spreading awareness of foreign policy issues among the American public, as well asinviting a large number of retired politicians to benefit from their experiences, for example, President Clinton received many invitations from different universities to teach in them, as well as Henry Kissinger, Secretary of State of the Nixon administration, who is the most famous figure who left his mark on foreign policy.As well as Brzezinski and Madeleine Albright and Condoleezza Rice and in the strength of these centers lies the strength of the United States of America and also the abundance of effective centers of them, which raise the analysis to the level of geostrategic, strategic and geopolitical, has benefited successive U.S. administrations from these centers and their activities has appointed former U.S. President Jimmy Carter after his election in 1976 a number of experts affiliated with the Brookings Institution in his government as well as Donald Reagan has been hired by 150 researchers from the founders of the Heritage and Hoover Institute The Bush administration was not immune from relying on the experts of these centers if George W. Bush benefited from what is known as the Presidency report, which was called "Navigation in a Turbulent Sea," which was drafted by nearly 100 figures known as the Presidency Working Group and included media and experts from think tanks, security officials and former politicians, and Barack Obama also became the same. If we come to the impact of these centers, we find, for example, that the war in Iraq and Afghanistan were planned in these centers ten years before its establishment, as Congress authorized President George W. Bush the right to use force against Iraq in November of the year 2002 and a number of experts were called in these centers in order to assess the size of the risks and what are the chances of success for any military action used to overthrow the regime of Saddam Hussein and these experts ( Kenneth Pollack) who downplayed the exposure of U.S. forces to the threat of resistance in Iraq.
The influence of research centers has increased and their role has become clearly visible in political decision-making, and in fact all the visions and ideas driving the American decision are only the fruits of the results of institutions and centers of strategic studies. Richard Perle, chairman of the National Defense Policy Council and a member of the Center for the Study of the American Project, was the onewho called for redrawing the map of the Middle East and considered the war on Iraq to be the beginning of the Therefore, experts from political and strategic research and studies centers flocked successively to Iraq after the war to study the nature of this country and how its future can be drawn in the region. After the events of September 11, 2001, anti-Arab and anti-Muslim opinions increased. The impact of these centers on the course of affairs in the Middle East, including the Arab Gulf region, has increased. In summary, research centers were and still are one of the most important tributaries of political decision-making in the United States of America, as they represent a meeting place for a group of politicians who contributed to American political decision-making, such as former intelligence agency directors and national security advisers, as well as a large number of academics, university professors and owners of major American companies, which He gave the American system the character of renewal and openness to thought and science, and this is what allowed it to keep pace with development and change as long as those in charge of it believe that leadership must be for science and knowledge, proceeding from the principle that knowledge has become more powerful than ever before.
