Institute for Policy Studies
Encyclopedia
Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) is a left-wing think tank based in Washington, D.C.
.
It has been directed by John Cavanagh since 1998
, aide to McGeorge Bundy
, and Richard Barnet
, aide to John J. McCloy
.
As soon as IPS opened its doors in 1963, it plunged into the anti-Vietnam War movement. In 1965, Raskin and Associate Fellow Bernard Fall edited The Vietnam Reader, which became a textbook for teach-ins across the country. In 1967, Raskin and IPS Fellow Arthur Waskow
penned "A Call to Resist Illegitimate Authority," a document signed by dozens of well-known scholars and religious leaders that helped launch the draft resistance movement. 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. The FBI responded by infiltrating IPS with more than 70 informants, wiretapping its phones, and searching through its garbage. The Nixon Administration placed Barnet and Raskin on its "enemies list."
In 1964, several leading African-American activists joined the staff and turned IPS into a base of support for the civil rights movement in the nation’s capital. Fellow Bob Moses organized trainings for field organizers of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Council on the links between civil rights theory and practice, while Ivanhoe Donaldson initiated an assembly of African-American government officials.
IPS was also at the forefront of the feminist movement. Fellow Charlotte Bunch
organized a historic women’s liberation conference in 1966 and later launched two feminist periodicals, Quest and Off Our Backs. Rita Mae Brown
wrote and published her path-breaking lesbian coming-of-age novel Rubyfruit Jungle while on the staff in the 1970s.
, a former Chilean official, 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.
The Institute for Policy Studies hosts an annual human rights award in the names of Letelier and Moffitt to honor these fallen colleagues while celebrating new heroes of the human rights movement from the United States and elsewhere in the Americas. The award recipients receive the Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Award
.
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.
In its attention to the role of multinational corporation
s, it was also an early critic of what has come to be called globalization
. Richard Barnet's 1974 examination of the power of multinational corporations, Global Reach was one of the first books on the subject.
In 1985, Fellow Roger Wilkins
helped found the Free South Africa Movement, which organized a year-long series of demonstrations that led to the imposition of U.S. sanctions.
In 1986, after six years of the Reagan administration, Sidney Blumenthal
claimed that "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."
Since 1994, IPS has also published an annual report on the disparity between CEO and worker pay that has garnered widespread coverage in the mainstream media and helped put the issue of economic inequality at the center of the political debate.
, professor of politics
and history
at Emory University
, in his 1988 book Far Left of Center: The American Radical Left Today 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
." Joshua Muravchik
has also accused the institute of communophilism. while Emerson Vermatt has accused the think-tank of "its bitter opposition to the intelligence community, notably the CIA." Furthermore, it has been accused by the FBI as a "think factory" that helps to "train extremists who incite violence in U.S. cities, and whose educational research serves as a cover for intrigue, an political agitation."
In 1974, the Institute created an 'Organizing Committee for the Fifth Estate' as part of its "Center for National Security Studies" which published (and still publishes) the magazine CounterSpy. CounterSpy has in turn been the subject of scrutiny by officials and intelligence agencies, who claim that the magazine's "driving force" was ex-CIA agent and alleged Cuban/KGB agent Philip Agee
and accused by US President George H.W. Bush
and others of leading to the murder of the then CIA Station Chief in Greece, Richard S. Welch.
Brian Crozier
, director of the London-based Institute for the Study of Conflict, described IPS as the "perfect intellectual front for Soviet activities which would be resisted if they were to originate openly from the KGB
."
heir, Philip Stern, and banker, James Warburg
.
Most of the money came from a foundation of Samuel Rubin.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
.
It has been directed by John Cavanagh since 1998
History
The organization was founded in 1963 with a stated mandate to provide "an independent center of research and education on public policy problems in Washington."Founding and 1960s
The institute was founded in 1963 by two former governmental workers, Marcus RaskinMarcus Raskin
Marcus Raskin is a prominent American social critic, political activist, author, and philosopher, working for progressive social change in the United States....
, aide to McGeorge Bundy
McGeorge Bundy
McGeorge "Mac" Bundy was United States National Security Advisor to Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson from 1961 through 1966, and president of the Ford Foundation from 1966 through 1979...
, and Richard Barnet
Richard Barnet
Richard Jackson Barnet was an American scholar-activist who co-founded the Institute for Policy Studies.-Early years:...
, aide to John J. McCloy
John J. McCloy
John Jay McCloy was a lawyer and banker who served as Assistant Secretary of War during World War II, president of the World Bank and U.S. High Commissioner for Germany...
.
As soon as IPS opened its doors in 1963, it plunged into the anti-Vietnam War movement. In 1965, Raskin and Associate Fellow Bernard Fall edited The Vietnam Reader, which became a textbook for teach-ins across the country. In 1967, Raskin and IPS Fellow Arthur Waskow
Arthur Waskow
Arthur Ocean Waskow, born Arthur I. Waskow, is an American author, political activist, and rabbi associated with the Jewish Renewal movement.-Education and early career:...
penned "A Call to Resist Illegitimate Authority," a document signed by dozens of well-known scholars and religious leaders that helped launch the draft resistance movement. IPS also organized Congressional seminars and published numerous books that challenged the national security state, including Gar Alperovitz
Gar Alperovitz
Gar Alperovitz is Lionel R. Bauman Professor of Political Economy at the University of Maryland, College Park Department of Government and Politics. He is a former Fellow of King's College, Cambridge; a founding Fellow of Harvard’s Institute of Politics; a Fellow at the Institute for Policy...
’s Atomic Diplomacy and Barnet’s Intervention and Revolution. The FBI responded by infiltrating IPS with more than 70 informants, wiretapping its phones, and searching through its garbage. The Nixon Administration placed Barnet and Raskin on its "enemies list."
In 1964, several leading African-American activists joined the staff and turned IPS into a base of support for the civil rights movement in the nation’s capital. Fellow Bob Moses organized trainings for field organizers of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Council on the links between civil rights theory and practice, while Ivanhoe Donaldson initiated an assembly of African-American government officials.
IPS was also at the forefront of the feminist movement. Fellow Charlotte Bunch
Charlotte Bunch
Charlotte Bunch is an American activist, author and organizer in women's and human rights movements.A Board of Governor’s Distinguished Service Professor in Women's and Gender Studies, Bunch founded Washington D.C...
organized a historic women’s liberation conference in 1966 and later launched two feminist periodicals, Quest and Off Our Backs. Rita Mae Brown
Rita Mae Brown
Rita Mae Brown is an American writer. She is best known for her first novel Rubyfruit Jungle. Published in 1973, it dealt with lesbian themes in an explicit manner unusual for the time...
wrote and published her path-breaking lesbian coming-of-age novel Rubyfruit Jungle while on the staff in the 1970s.
1970s
In 1976, the Institute's destiny became irrevocably linked with the international human rights movement when agents of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet murdered two IPS colleagues on Washington’s Embassy Row. The target of the car bomb attack was Orlando LetelierOrlando Letelier
Marcos Orlando Letelier del Solar was a Chilean economist, Socialist politician and diplomat during the presidency of Socialist President Salvador Allende...
, a former Chilean official, 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.
The Institute for Policy Studies hosts an annual human rights award in the names of Letelier and Moffitt to honor these fallen colleagues while celebrating new heroes of the human rights movement from the United States and elsewhere in the Americas. The award recipients receive the Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Award
Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Award
The Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Award is awarded annually by the Washington, D.C.-based Institute for Policy Studies. It is awarded to those advancing the cause of human rights in the Americas. The Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Award commemorates Orlando Letelier and Ronni Moffitt, who in 1976...
.
The Transnational Institute
Transnational Institute
Transnational Institute is an international think tank for progressive politics. It was established in 1973 in Amsterdam and serves as a network for scholars and activists...
, an international progressive think tank based in Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
, was originally established as the IPS's international program, although it became independent in 1973.
In its attention to the role of multinational corporation
Multinational corporation
A multi national corporation or enterprise , is a corporation or an enterprise that manages production or delivers services in more than one country. It can also be referred to as an international corporation...
s, it was also an early critic of what has come to be called globalization
Globalization
Globalization refers to the increasingly global relationships of culture, people and economic activity. Most often, it refers to economics: the global distribution of the production of goods and services, through reduction of barriers to international trade such as tariffs, export fees, and import...
. Richard Barnet's 1974 examination of the power of multinational corporations, Global Reach was one of the first books on the subject.
1980s
In the 1980s, IPS became heavily involved in supporting the movement against U.S. 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 U.S. policy in the region.In 1985, Fellow Roger Wilkins
Roger Wilkins
Roger Wilkins is an African American civil rights leader, professor of history, and journalist.-Biography:Wilkins was born in Kansas City, Missouri, and grew up in Michigan...
helped found the Free South Africa Movement, which organized a year-long series of demonstrations that led to the imposition of U.S. sanctions.
In 1986, after six years of the Reagan administration, Sidney Blumenthal
Sidney Blumenthal
Sidney Blumenthal is a former aide to President of the United States Bill Clinton and a widely published American journalist, especially on American politics and foreign policy....
claimed that "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."
1990s
In the early 1990s, IPS began monitoring the environmental impacts of U.S. trade, investment, and drug policies.Since 1994, IPS has also published an annual report on the disparity between CEO and worker pay that has garnered widespread coverage in the mainstream media and helped put the issue of economic inequality at the center of the political debate.
Examples of activities
- When the Soviet Union sought to weaken NATO in the Netherlands and Denmark, the IPS undertook efforts such as planting suitable articles and arranging international conferences.
- The IPS opposed the Iraqi no-fly-zone that was set up to protect Kurds and Shias after the Gulf War.
- The IPS opposed the NATO war undertaken to stop Slobodan MiloševićSlobodan MiloševićSlobodan Milošević was President of Serbia and Yugoslavia. He served as the President of Socialist Republic of Serbia and Republic of Serbia from 1989 until 1997 in three terms and as President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1997 to 2000...
's alleged ethnic cleansing campaign in KosovoOperation HorseshoeOperation Horseshoe is a name attributed to a large-scale antiterrorism campaign which during the NATO bombing escalated to ethnic cleansing of Kosovo Albanians carried out by Serbian Police and Yugoslav Army during the Kosovo War....
.
Criticisms
Harvey KlehrHarvey Klehr
Harvey E. Klehr is a professor of politics and history at Emory University; he is known for his books on the subject of the American Communist movement, and on Soviet espionage in America ....
, professor of politics
Politics
Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...
and history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
at Emory University
Emory University
Emory University is a private research university in metropolitan Atlanta, located in the Druid Hills section of unincorporated DeKalb County, Georgia, United States. The university was founded as Emory College in 1836 in Oxford, Georgia by a small group of Methodists and was named in honor of...
, in his 1988 book Far Left of Center: The American Radical Left Today 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
Insurgency
An insurgency is an armed rebellion against a constituted authority when those taking part in the rebellion are not recognized as belligerents...
." Joshua Muravchik
Joshua Muravchik
Joshua Muravchik is a scholar formerly at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research and now a fellow at the School of Advanced International Studies of Johns Hopkins University....
has also accused the institute of communophilism. while Emerson Vermatt has accused the think-tank of "its bitter opposition to the intelligence community, notably the CIA." Furthermore, it has been accused by the FBI as a "think factory" that helps to "train extremists who incite violence in U.S. cities, and whose educational research serves as a cover for intrigue, an political agitation."
In 1974, the Institute created an 'Organizing Committee for the Fifth Estate' as part of its "Center for National Security Studies" which published (and still publishes) the magazine CounterSpy. CounterSpy has in turn been the subject of scrutiny by officials and intelligence agencies, who claim that the magazine's "driving force" was ex-CIA agent and alleged Cuban/KGB agent Philip Agee
Philip Agee
Philip Burnett Franklin Agee was a Central Intelligence Agency case officer and writer, best known as author of the 1975 book, Inside the Company: CIA Diary, detailing his experiences in the CIA. Agee joined the CIA in 1957, and over the following decade had postings in Washington, D.C., Ecuador,...
and accused by US President George H.W. Bush
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...
and others of leading to the murder of the then CIA Station Chief in Greece, Richard S. Welch.
Role of Russian and Cuban intelligence agencies
In his book The KGB and Soviet disinformation: an insider's view Ladislav Bittman, a former StB agent who worked in misinformation operations such as the IPS, covered the IPS's role in the Soviet intelligence network. It should be noted that not all of IPS fellows were on intelligence agency payroll and not every publication originated from the KGB.Brian Crozier
Brian Crozier
Brian Rossiter Crozier is a British-based historian, strategist and journalist.Crozier was born in Australia, although he was raised in France, learning French. Thereafter his family moved to England where he would receive a scholarship to study piano and musical composition at the Trinity College...
, director of the London-based Institute for the Study of Conflict, described IPS as the "perfect intellectual front for Soviet activities which would be resisted if they were to originate openly from the KGB
KGB
The KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...
."
Fellows
- Sarah Anderson
- Phyllis Bennis
- John Cavanagh
- Karen Dolan
- Saul LandauSaul LandauSaul Landau is journalist, filmmaker, and commentator. He is Professor Emeritus at California State University, Pomona. He is a senior Fellow at and Vice Chair of the Institute for Policy Studies.-Career:...
- Marcus RaskinMarcus RaskinMarcus Raskin is a prominent American social critic, political activist, author, and philosopher, working for progressive social change in the United States....
- Sanho Tree
- Daphne Wysham
Senior Scholars
- Maude BarlowMaude BarlowMaude Victoria Barlow is a Canadian author and activist. She is the National Chairperson of The Council of Canadians, a citizens’ advocacy organization with members and chapters across Canada. She is also the co-founder of the , which works internationally for the human right to water...
- Norman BirnbaumNorman BirnbaumNorman Birnbaum is an American sociologist. He is an emeritus professor at the Georgetown University Law Center, and a member of the editorial board of The Nation. He was educated in New York City's public schools, at Williams College, and has a doctorate in sociology from Harvard University...
- Noam ChomskyNoam ChomskyAvram Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, and activist. He is an Institute Professor and Professor in the Department of Linguistics & Philosophy at MIT, where he has worked for over 50 years. Chomsky has been described as the "father of modern linguistics" and...
- Steve Cobble
- Chuck CollinsChuck CollinsChuck Collins is an author and a senior scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, DC, where he directs the Program on Inequality and the Common Good. He is also cofounder of . He is an expert on U.S...
- Barbara EhrenreichBarbara Ehrenreich-Early life:Ehrenreich was born Barbara Alexander to Isabelle Oxley and Ben Howes Alexander in Butte, Montana, which she describes as then being "a bustling, brawling, blue collar mining town."...
- Paul Epstein
- Richard Falk
- Bill Fletcher
- Andy Levine
- Jerry ManderJerry ManderJerold Irwin "Jerry" Mander is an American activist and author, best known for his 1977 book, Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television...
- Jack O'Dell
- Vandana ShivaVandana ShivaVandana Shiva , is a philosopher, environmental activist, and eco feminist. Shiva, currently based in Delhi, has authored more than 20 books and over 500 papers in leading scientific and technical journals. She was trained as a physicist and received her Ph.D...
Associate Fellows
- Carlos Albacete
- Beverly Bell
- Stacie Jonas
- Antonia JuhaszAntonia JuhaszAntonia Juhasz is the Director of the Energy Program at Global Exchange, a San Francisco-based human rights non-profit organization. She is a policy-analyst, author and activist....
- Ben ManskiBen ManskiBen Manski is an American attorney, organizer, activist with the Green Party, Executive Director of the Liberty Tree Foundation for the Democratic Revolution and editor of the Liberty Tree Journal. As a member of the Wisconsin Green Party, he served as co-chair of the Green Party of the United...
- Paul Paz
- Manuel Perez Rocha
- Sam Pizzigati
- Caleb Rossiter
- Amy Quinn
- Dave Ranney
- Osagyefo Sekou
Leadership and Board
- Harriet Barlow, Senior Advisor, HKH Foundation
- Harry Belafonte, Singer, Actor, Producer, Activist
- Robert L. Borosage, President, Institute for America’s Future
- Elsbeth Bothe, Retired Baltimore Circuit Court Judge
- John Cavanagh, Global Economy Senior Fellow
- James Early, Director, Cultural Studies and Communication, Center for Folklife Programs and Cultural Heritage, Smithsonian Institution
- Barbara Ehrenreich, Writer
- Ralph Estes, Executive Director, Stakeholder's Alliance; Senior Scholar, Institute for Policy Studies
- Jodie Evans Co-Founder, CODEPINK: Women for Peace
- Frances Farenthold, Attorney; Former member, Texas legislature
- Lisa Fuentes, Scholar, Latin American Studies; Activist
- Larry Janss, Filmmaker
- Saul Landau, IPS Fellow
- Nancy Lewis, Activist
- E. Ethelbert Miller, Director, African American Resource Center, Howard University; Poet
- Marcus Raskin, Paths for Reconstruction in the 21st Century Distinguished Fellow
- Andy Shallal, Owner, Busboys & Poets; Artist
- Lewis Steel, Civil rights attorney, Outten & Golden, LLP
- Katrina vanden Heuvel, Editor and Publisher, The Nation
- Daphne Wysham, Sustainable Energy and Economy Network Fellow
Funding
Start-up funding was secured from the SearsSears, Roebuck and Company
Sears, officially named Sears, Roebuck and Co., is an American chain of department stores which was founded by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck in the late 19th century...
heir, Philip Stern, and banker, James Warburg
James Warburg
James Paul Warburg was an American banker and financial adviser to Franklin D. Roosevelt. His father was Paul Warburg.- Biography :...
.
Most of the money came from a foundation of Samuel Rubin.