Think tank: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

A think tank is a group of individuals dedicated to high-level synergistic research on a variety of subjects, usually in military laboratories, corporations, or other institutions.

Think tanks in the United States play an important role in forming both foreign and domestic policy. Typically, an issue such as national missile defense will be debated within and among think tanks and the result of these debates will influence government policy makers. Think tanks in the United States generally receive funding from private donors, and members of private organization think tanks may feel more free to propose and debate controversial ideas than people within government.

Some think tanks are clearly aligned with conservative or pro-market approaches to the economy, while others, especially those with an emphasis on social welfare, social equity or environmental outcomes, are viewed as more liberal or left-of-center.

In the People's Republic of China a number of think tanks are sponsored by governmental agencies but still retain sufficient non-official status to be able to propose and debate ideas more freely. Indeed, most of the actual diplomacy between China and the United States has taken the form of academic exchanges between members of think tanks.

Discoveries

Discoveries and activities which resulted from think tanks include:

• The atomic bomb
• Dolphin-human communication
• The Internet and the World Wide Web
• Some early United States space programs
• Remote viewing
• Global climatology
• The 2003 invasion of Iraq
• The graphical user interface

Critics such as Ralph Nader have pointed out that the private nature of the funding of think tanks may bias their resulting findings. Some argue members will be inclined to promote or publish only those results that ensure the continued flow of funds from private donors. Some critics go further to assert think tanks are little more than propaganda tools for promoting the ideological arguments of whatever group established them. This risk of distortion similarly threatens the reputation and integrity of organizations such as universities, once considered to stand wholly within the public sector. Further, not all organizations calling themselves think tanks truly are; some supposed think tanks may be more accurately understood as fronts for marketing or public relations organizations.

Since think tanks generally prefer secrecy for their internal organizational methods, it may be difficult to map their network of connections and interests. One method of documenting the think tank network uses books published by members of the think tanks and/or journalists who write about them, noting whose names occur together on any single page of these books. While crude, this method is currently used by the organization NameBase and the results are publicly available.