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Institute for Policy Studies

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Not to be confused with the UK-based Policy Studies Institute.

Institute for Policy Studies
AbbreviationIPS
Formation1963; 61 years ago (1963)
TypePolicy think tank
HeadquartersWashington, DC, United States
Director
Tope Folarin[1]
Budget
$3.1 million (2013)[2]
Websitewww.ips-dc.org

The Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) is an American progressive[3][4][5] think tank, formed in 1963 and based in Washington, D.C. It was directed by John Cavanagh from 1998 to 2021. In 2021, Tope Folarin assumed the position of executive director.[6] IPS focuses on US foreign policy, domestic policy, human rights, international economics, and national security.

IPS has been described as one of the five major independent think tanks in Washington.[7] Members of the IPS played key roles in the civil rights and anti-war movements of the 1960s, in the women's and environmental movements of the 1970s, and in the peace, anti-apartheid, and anti-intervention movements of the 1980s.[8][9]

History

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1960s

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The Institute for Policy Studies was founded in 1963 by Marcus Raskin and Richard Barnet as the think tank for "the most powerful of the powerless," according to a 2009 Carnegie Report.[10] The founders were officials in the John F. Kennedy administration —Raskin, then in his twenties, was working as a White House aide for McGeorge Bundy, and Barnet served in a similar role to John J. McCloy.[10] They had become disillusioned by priorities based on politics rather than moral issues.[10]

Against the backdrop of the counterculture of the 1960s, the opposition to US involvement in the Vietnam War, and the civil rights movement of the 1960s, the IPS "became a brand name for its unabashedly left-wing tone", in contrast with RAND and the largely conservative think tanks.[10] Members of these movements came to IPS headquarters in Washington, D.C.'s Dupont Circle. In a 2009 interview, Raskin said, "Very quickly, with the Vietnam War, the civil rights movement, the women’s movement, the institute became a place where different people from the movements came. People came in from demonstrations" and "camped out in the offices. Early on [the IPS] had predicted that Vietnam would be a disaster." During the presidency of Lyndon Johnson, Raskin was indicted by the federal government for the 1965 publication of "tens of thousands of copies of an IPS anti-war Vietnam Reader"—a kind of textbook for anti-war teach-ins. He was charged with encouraging people to resist the draft.[11][10][7][12] In 1967, Raskin and IPS Fellow Arthur Waskow penned "A Call to Resist Illegitimate Authority",[13] a document signed by dozens of scholars and religious leaders which helped to launch the draft resistance movement.

In 1964, several leading African-American activists joined the institute's staff and turned IPS into a base for supporting the civil rights movement. Fellow Bob Moses organized trainings for field organizers of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee on the links between civil rights theory and practice, while Ivanhoe Donaldson initiated an assembly of African-American government officials. Port Huron SDS co-writer and civil rights veteran, IPS Fellow Robb Burlage launched the critical health care justice movement in 1967 with his "Burlage Report".[14] The next year, Burlage founded the Health Policy Advisory Center, which began publishing the Health/Pac Bulletin. The Bulletin "boasted a wide audience composed of radicalized medical students and physicians and neighborhood activists, on one side, and nervous health administrators at powerful medical centers pilloried in each issue, on the other"; it became a bimonthly until its closure in 1994.[15][16][17]

The IPS was also at the forefront of the feminist movement. Fellow Charlotte Bunch organized a significant women's liberation conference in 1966 and later launched two feminist periodicals, Quest and Off Our Backs. Rita Mae Brown wrote and published her notable lesbian coming-of-age novel, Rubyfruit Jungle, while on the staff in the 1970s.[citation needed]

Raskin's 2018 obituary in The Nation said that for him, "ideas were the seedlings for effective action."[18]: 4, 8 

IPS also organized congressional seminars and published numerous books that challenged the national security state, including Gar Alperovitz’s Atomic Diplomacy and Barnet's Intervention and Revolution. IPS was the object of repeated FBI and Internal Revenue Service probes.[7] The Nixon administration placed Barnet and Raskin on its Enemies List.[19]

1970s

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In 1971, Raskin received "a mountain of paper" from a source that was later identified as Daniel Ellsberg. These became known as the Pentagon Papers. Raskin played his "customary catalytic role" by putting Ellsberg in touch with New York Times reporter Neil Sheehan.[20][21]

In 1974, the institute created an Organizing Committee for the Fifth Estate as part of its Center for National Security Studies which published the magazine CounterSpy until 1984.[Notes 1]

In 1976, agents of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet assassinated two IPS staff members on Washington's Embassy Row.[22] The target of the car bomb attack was Orlando Letelier, a former Chilean government minister and ambassador to the United States, one of Pinochet's most outspoken critics and the head of IPS's sister organization, the Transnational Institute (TNI). Ronni Karpen Moffitt, a 25-year-old IPS development associate, was also killed.[citation needed] The IPS hosts an annual human rights award in the names of Letelier and Moffitt to honor them while celebrating new heroes of the human rights movement from the US and elsewhere in the Americas. The award recipients receive the Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Award.[citation needed]

The Transnational Institute, an international progressive think tank based in Amsterdam, was originally established as the IPS's international program, although it became independent in 1973.[23]

In its attention to the role of multinational corporations, the IPS was an early critic of what has come to be called globalization. Barnet's 1974 examination of the power of multinational corporations, Global Reach: The Power of the Multinational Corporations (co-written with Ronald E. Muller), appeared even as the concept of multinationals was being academically defined.[4]

1980s

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In the 1980s, Raskin served as chair of the SANE/Freeze campaign.: 4  The IPS also became heavily involved in supporting the movement against US intervention in Central America. IPS Director Robert Borosage and other staff helped draft Changing Course: Blueprint for Peace in Central America and the Caribbean, which was used by hundreds of schools, labor unions, churches, and citizen organizations as a challenge to US policy in the region.[citation needed]

In 1985, Fellow Roger Wilkins helped found the Free South Africa Movement,[24] which organized a year-long series of demonstrations that led to the imposition of US sanctions. In 1987, S. Steven Powell published his non-fiction Covert Cadre: Inside the Institute for Policy Studies,[25] in which he provided "by far the single most compendious collection of facts about IPS that anyone has yet compiled", according to a lengthy critical review by Joshua Muravchik.[26]

In 1986, after six years of the Reagan administration, Sidney Blumenthal noted, "Ironically, as IPS has declined in Washington influence, its stature has grown in conservative demonology. In the Reagan era, the institute has loomed as a right-wing obsession and received most of its publicity by serving as a target."[27]

Conservative think tanks American Enterprise Institute and The Heritage Foundation described the IPS as the "far left" or "radical left" of the late 1980s,[28]: 177  In the journal World Affairs, author Joshua Muravchik coined "communophilism" – an "eclectic and undisciplined" sympathy to communist movements and governments, "virulently anti capitalist and virulently critical of the capitalist democracies of the West" – to describe the IPS.[29]

In his 1988 book Far Left of Center: The American Radical Left Today, Emory University professor Harvey Klehr said that IPS "serves as an intellectual nerve center for the radical movement, ranging from nuclear and anti-intervention issues to support for Marxist insurgencies".[28]: 177 

1990s

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In the early 1990s, the IPS began monitoring the environmental impacts of US trade, investment, and drug policies.[30]

2000s

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During the 2000s, the IPS strongly opposed the George W. Bush administration's actioins during the War on Terror, and argued against US military intervention in Afghanistan after the September 11 terrorist attacks.[31]

2010 – present

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In recent years, the IPS has been critical of US foreign policy in the Middle East, particularly in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Currently, its main focus is in five areas: economic inequality, race and gender considerations, climate change, foreign policy, and leadership development.[31]

Funding

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IPS operates as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Start-up funding came mostly from the Stern Family Fund (which was in large part endowed by the estate of Sears, Roebuck & Co. chairman Julius Rosenwald). During the 1960s, significant financial supporters included Sears heir, Philip Stern, the Ford Foundation, the D.J. Bernstein Foundation, the EDO Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, banker James Warburg, and the Field Foundation.[31] During the 1970s, the majority of funding came from the Samuel Rubin Foundation.[7] In later years, the MacArthur Foundation was a significant contributor. The IPS bylaws prohibit it from accepting government funding.[31]

Administration

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Fellows

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Senior scholars

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Notes

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  1. ^ In the 1980s there were allegations by a "confidential Dutch intelligence report that tied the controversial ex-CIA agent, Philip Agee, to the IPS magazine CounterSpy.("Institute of Policy Studies (IPS)" (Document). General Intelligence and Security Service. 1982. pp. 7, 8. a confidential Dutch intelligence report[verification needed]) Agee was the subject of numerous publications including a 1995 book (Kalugin, Oleg (1995). Spymaster: The Highest-ranking KGB Officer Ever to Break His Silence. Blake Publishing Ltd. ISBN 1-85685-101-X.: 191–192 ) and a 1997 Los Angeles Times article that did not mention any connection between Agee and the IPS magazine (Risen, James (October 14, 1997). "Once Again, Ex-Agent Philip Agee Eludes CIA's Grasp". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved January 24, 2021.).

References

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  1. ^ "IPS Board Selects Tope Folarin as New Executive Director, with John Cavanagh Transitioning to Senior Advisor". Institute for Policy Studies. May 13, 2021. Retrieved May 12, 2022.
  2. ^ "IRS Form 990 2013" (PDF). GuideStar. Internal Revenue Service. Retrieved December 16, 2015.
  3. ^ The Institute for Policy Studies. "The Institute for Policy Studies: the nation's oldest multi-issue progressive think tank". Retrieved September 15, 2017 – via The Library of Congress. {{cite news}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  4. ^ a b Hauk, Alexis. "Salaries of Public-University Presidents Rocket Despite Spiraling Student Debt". Time. Retrieved September 15, 2017.
  5. ^ "Institute for Policy Studies". Office of Career Strategy, Yale University. Retrieved September 15, 2017.[permanent dead link]
  6. ^ "IPS Board Selects Tope Folarin as New Executive Director, with John Cavanagh Transitioning to Senior Advisor". Institute for Policy Studies. May 13, 2021. Retrieved May 12, 2022.
  7. ^ a b c d Howard J. Wiarda; Esther M. Skelley (2006). The Crisis of American Foreign Policy: The Effects of a Divided America. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 102–103. ISBN 0742530388.
  8. ^ Mueller, Brian S (2021). Democracy's Think Tank: The Institute for Policy Studies & Progressive Foreign Policy. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 978-0812253122.
  9. ^ The Internship Bible (10th ed.). The Princeton Review. 2005. p. 223. ISBN 0375764682.
  10. ^ a b c d e Katz, Lee Michael (Spring 2009). −reporter/single/view/article/item/213/ "American think tanks". Carnegie Reporter. Vol. 5, no. 2. Carnegie Foundation. Archived from −reporter/single/view/article/item/213/ the original on July 21, 2011. Retrieved January 24, 2021.
  11. ^ Scholars' Guide to Washington, D.C. for Central Asian and Caucasus Studies. M. E. Sharpe. 2005. pp. 171–172. ISBN 0-7656-1579-7.
  12. ^ −for-policy-studies "Institute for Policy Studies". The Heritage Foundation. April 19, 1977. Retrieved August 2, 2013.
  13. ^ "A Call to Resist Illegitimate Authority".
  14. ^ Chowkwanyun, Merlin (February 2011). "The New Left and Public Health The Health Policy Advisory Center, Community Organizing, and the Big Business of Health, 1967 – 1975". American Journal of Public Health. 101 (2): 238–249. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2009.189985. ISSN 0090-0036. PMC 3020214. PMID 21228287.
  15. ^ Chowkwanyun 2011 "For almost a decade after its founding in 1968, New York City's Health Policy Advisory Center (Health/PAC) served as the strategic hub of a vibrant radical social movement around health care equality, one that paralleled (and sometimes conflicted with) more widely known liberal counterparts of the time. Its Health/PAC Bulletin became an established bimonthly that boasted a wide audience composed of radicalized medical students and physicians and neighborhood activists, on one side, and nervous health administrators at powerful medical centers pilloried in each issue, on the other."
  16. ^ "Project Showcase: The Health/PAC Digital Archive". National Council on Public History. March 28, 2013. Retrieved August 5, 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  17. ^ "The Health/PAC Digital Archive: Three Decades of Health and Social Justice". www.healthpacbulletin.org. Retrieved November 5, 2017.
  18. ^ "Marcus Raskin". Obituary. February 2018. {{cite magazine}}: Cite magazine requires |magazine= (help)
  19. ^ Barnet and Raskin are listed on the more comprehensive Master list of Nixon political opponents; History of IPS, IPS website
  20. ^ Young, Michael (June 2002). "The devil and Daniel Ellsberg: From archetype to anachronism (review of Wild Man: The Life and Times of Daniel Ellsberg)". Reason. p. 2. Archived from the original on August 30, 2009. Retrieved July 2, 2010.
  21. ^ "Vietnam-era whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked Pentagon Papers, dies at 92". AP NEWS. June 16, 2023. Retrieved June 26, 2023.
  22. ^ Letelier case[user-generated source]
  23. ^ IPS 30th Anniversary Report
  24. ^ FSAM Chronology Archived July 20, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  25. ^ S. Steven Powell (1987). Covert Cadre: Inside the Institute for Policy Studies. Green Hill Publishers. p. 359. ISBN 9780915463398.
  26. ^ Muravchik, Joshua (October 1988). "Review of S. Steven Powell's non-fiction Covert Cadre: Inside the Institute for Policy Studies". Commentary Magazine. Retrieved January 24, 2021.
  27. ^ Sidney Blumenthal, Washington Post, 30 July 1986, Left-Wing Thinkers
  28. ^ a b Klehr, Harvey (1988). Far Left of Center: The American Radical Left Today.
  29. ^ Muravchik, Joshua (1984). "'Communophilism' and the Institute for Policy Studies". World Affairs. 147 (3): 161–189 – via JSTOR. The resurgence of American radicalism in the 1960s was not accompanied by a commensurate resurgence in the popularity of the Communist Party, USA, or any of the rival parties modeled after the CPUSA ... much of the "New Left" was sympathetic to communist movements and governments, but this sympathy was eclectic and undisciplined. ... It adhered to no single party line, nor to any single state as the model of socialist utopia. ... [this] became one of the most important strains, if not the dominant one, of new leftism. ... distinguishable as an ideology from either liberalism or socialism or communism. It needs a name of its own; I propose to call it "communophilism." A communophile is someone who believes that socialism is superior to capitalism. "Socialism" ... the socialism of the communophile may have no precise content except that it is virulently anti capitalist and virulently critical of the capitalist democracies of the West. These societies are generally portrayed by the communophile as being impervious to mere reform and in need of fundamental alteration.
  30. ^ "Our History | Institute for Policy Studies". Institute for Policy Studies. Retrieved November 5, 2017.
  31. ^ a b c d "Institute for Policy Studies". InfluenceWatch. Retrieved August 5, 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  32. ^ "John Kiriakou". Institute for Policy Studies. Retrieved July 4, 2017.
  33. ^ Gerhardt, Tina (January 24, 2013). "Joseph Stiglitz and the World Economic Forum: Making the Connection Between Climate Change and Economics". Huffington Post. Retrieved August 2, 2013. Daphne Wysham, fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies, agrees that one needs to look beyond GDP.

Further reading

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  • Mueller, Brian S. (2021). Democracy's Think Tank: The Institute for Policy Studies and Progressive Foreign Policy. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 978-0-8122-9960-1.
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