The Diplomat
The Elcano Royal Institute has become the second most important think tank in Europe in the category of Foreign Policy and International Relations, according to the prestigious 2020 Global Go To Think Tanks Index Report.
According to this study, which is carried out every year by the University of Pennsylvania, the Elcano Royal Institute has climbed seven places in a single year in the Western European region, which places it in second position on the continent, only behind Bruegel, an independent think tank based in Brussels and chaired by Jean-Claude Trichet, former president of the European Central Bank.
This result places the Elcano Royal Institute ahead of some of the continent’s most prestigious think tanks, including Chatham House (UK), French Institute of International Relations (IFRI) (France), Clingendael-Netherlands Institute of International Relations (Netherlands), Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI) (Italy), Notre Europe Jacques Delors Institute (France), Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP) (Germany), European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) and Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) (Sweden).
In addition, the Elcano Royal Institute has also moved up four positions in the 2020 Global Go To Think Tanks Index (GGTTI) world ranking in the category of Foreign Policy and International Relations, to reach eleventh place, and is ranked 29th in the world, including the United States (which, with more than 1,870 think tanks, is by far the country with the most think tanks of this type in the world). In this section, Elcano has climbed 18 positions compared to last year, ahead of such important centres as the Atlantic Council (USA) and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS).
Another important Spanish think tank, the Barcelona Centre for International Affairs (CIDOB), has improved one position in the world ranking, reaching 29th place, excluding US centres, and 36th, including the US. In addition, it has also improved its position as a “think tank to watch”, the category that recognises innovation and excellence in research, reaching third place, only behind the US Hoover Institution and Brookings Institution.
For its part, the Fundación Alternativas has also climbed ten positions with respect to the previous year’s index and is now ranked 104th out of the 11,175 best think tanks in the world, including those in the United States. Excluding the US think tanks, it has risen nine places to 80th out of 8,788. Alternativas is also among the top 50 in Western Europe.
The 2020 Global Go To Think Tanks Index Rep (GGTTI), compiled by the University of Pennsylvania’s Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program from data from around 8,200 think tanks around the world, has been compiled since 2007 based on the evaluations of politicians, scientists, donors and think tanks. Some 4,000 experts from five continents, including journalists, academics and policymakers, participated in the voting for this year’s ranking.
