Finding Good Governance for the Think20: Democratizing Roles of Think Tanks in the Group of Twenty
Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program Summer 2020
G20/T20 Team
Julia Lammers, Project Lead Danning Chen Alec Escobar Nihal Kotragouda Natasha Porter Gabriella Rabito Emad Shahnoushi Anna Stambakio
1 Table of Contents Introduction 2
About the Think20 (T20) 4
Literature Review 7
T20 Countries Analysis 10 United States 10 Germany 38 Japan 15 United Kingdom 38 Argentina 38 India 38 France 38 South Africa 22 Canada 38 China 38 Australia 38 Italy 27 Brazil 38 Turkey 38 Indonesia 38 Russia 38 Mexico 38 South Korea 36 Saudi Arabia 38 European Union 38
Underrepresented Regions 39 Africa 42 Middle East and North Africa 42 Asia 42 Central and South America 42
T20 Advisory Board 43
About the G20/T20 Team 45
Introduction
2 The G20/T20 Team of the Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program closely monitors the progressions of the annual G20 and T20 summit and conducts data collection and research of involvement from think tanks on a global scale. The Think20 or T20, a network of think tanks and researchers, was formed in 2012 during Mexico’s presidency as one of the eight official engagement groups to the G20. Since 2012, the top think tanks from 8 of the 20 G20 Countries have hosted a T20 summit including Mexico, Russia, Australia, Turkey, China, Germany, Argentina, and Japan. Leading up to each summit, the host think tanks facilitate discussions with think tanks and researchers from around the world to ultimately produce a set of policy recommendations to be submitted to and considered by the G20.
Think tanks, as potential hosts and participants of the T20 summits, must work together to develop and sustain good governance of the official engagement group. While a single G20 country and its leading think tanks host the T20 summit each year, all G20 countries need to be involved in ensuring that the key factors to good governance are being implemented by the host think tanks. These key factors include: (1) Diversity and Inclusion (2) Representation of Underrepresented Regions (3) Democracy within the T20 (4) Sustainability of Funds (5) Policy Relevance (6) Transparency. Each of these important factors will be explained in depth later in this report.
Our research over the course of this term has been translated into a country-by-country analysis of T20 participation over the years. This analysis shows a clear disproportion of think tanks’ participation by nation, measured by available evidence such as the number of policy briefs submitted, members on T20 advisory boards, members of T20 task forces, and the experience of hosting a T20 summit.
In analyzing the activity of think tanks from each G20 country, the G20/T20 Team primarily used data compiled from the G20 Insights website from the Global Solutions Initiative. The Global Solutions Initiative is an international non-governmental organization (INGO) created in 2017 during the German G20 presidency that aims to support the process of the T20 by bringing together a network of think tanks from around the world around relevant policy issues. G20 Insights is a platform of the Global Solutions Initiative that collects and presents policy proposals from T20 task forces categorized by policy area. The policy recommendations in the G20 Insights collection are selected by an advisory board made up of six regionally-diverse think tank directors based on a set of criteria that reward “high quality, novelty and implementability.”1 While the G20/T20 team recognizes that this is an initiative not officially associated with the G20 or T20, G20 Insights contains the most representative and readily available sample of high- quality policy briefs.
1 https://www.g20-insights.org/about/
3
The G20/T20 team used G20 Insights to attribute recent policy recommendation contributions to 363 individual organizations across 55 different countries. The team organized these policy contributions based on organization, nationality, and region, and used this data to extrapolate the recent activity of G20 and non-G20 countries as well as underrepresented regions in the T20 process. What we found was that institutions from Western Europe, Asia, and North America made up over 75% of all policy contributions, with Central and South America, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Middle East and North Africa being largely underrepresented within the available sample. We used this data, complemented with other sources on a country-to-country basis, to evaluate the activity and involvement in the T20 process for each G20 country.
The report will conclude by proposing the need for a T20 governing structure that will establish good governance in the T20 by addressing the six key factors: diversity and inclusion, representation of underrepresented regions, democracy within the T20, sustainability of funds, policy relevance, and transparency. The G20/T20 team nominates think tanks of all G20 countries and a number of non-G20 countries from underrepresented regions to serve on a permanent international advisory board for all future T20 summits.
About the Think20 (T20)
4 The Think20, or T20, is one of eight engagement groups that are affiliated with the G20. Engagement groups are independent collectives focused around a certain group or topic, such as women (W20) or business (B20), that provide policy recommendations to the G20 leaders in the hopes of influencing their policy commitments from each summit. The T20 engagement group is a network of think tanks that acts as the “ideas bank” for the G20 leaders, providing research-based policy recommendations from the international think tank community led by two or more institutions from the host country.2 Each year, under a new G20 Presidency, the T20 creates Task Forces to structure their proposals around the most critical issues, driving policy innovation3. In addition to a leadership team composed of leaders of the host think tanks, the T20 governance system also includes an advisory board, which in its current state includes think tank professionals who are chosen on a yearly basis to advise the host think tanks on the process.
The T20 as we know it today is a result of 8 years of evolution since the first Think 20 summit at the 2012 Los Cabos summit in Mexico, where think tank representatives from 15 countries—including Australia, Brazil, China, India, Japan, Russia, Singapore, Turkey, and South Korea—came together to discuss policy recommendations in the run-up to the G20 leaders' meeting. The T20 was bred out of a partnership between the Center for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) in Canada and the Mexican Council on Foreign Relations (COMEXI). During the Russian G20 Presidency, the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration continued the Think-20 process and hosted the meeting in Moscow in December 2012; Later in Australia, the Lowy Institute for International Policy organized the Think20 process with representatives from 30 think tanks; During Turkey’s G20 Presidency in 2015, the Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey (TEPAV) led the Think-20 outreach group; In 2016, over 400 guests including representatives of nearly 100 think tanks from more than 20 countries, government officials, and representatives from international organizations attended the meeting to contribute wisdom and knowledge on the 2016 G20 China theme of “Towards an Innovative, Invigorated, Interconnected and Inclusive World Economy”; Later in December, the Kiel Institute and the German Development Institute organized T20 as co-chairs in preparation for the German G20 summit in 2017; In 2018, chaired by CIPPEC and CARI, a new round of the Think 20 (T20) to produce public policy proposals for the Argentine presidency of the G20 kicked off; In 2019, the Think20 convened in Osaka, Japan under its G20 presidency
2 https://t20saudiarabia.org.sa/en/About/Pages/whats.aspx 3 https://www.global-solutions-initiative.org/the-g20-t20/
5 Literature Review
G20 was established in 2008 in response to the global economic crisis, which highlighted a need for the more effective, inclusive, and sustainable financial and economic system. Global calamity showed that newly emerging economies need a seat at the table when it comes to the new post-crisis balance. G20 was introduced to provide transnational cooperation and aid developing countries in being heard, but there is an existing criticism related to the legitimacy, accountability, governance, and transperancy4 . G20 was established as an informal body without defined rules on membership where executive decisions are made based on the consensus. There is no international treaty behind G20 nor a global agreement. Current G20 governance is a rotating secretariat based on the hosting country. Its organizational membership is clearly disproportionate with Europe being overrepresented. There were a number of initiatives to involve Africa and other regions into the policy discussions, but they still have less than adequate participation.5 Even though G20 has been addressing criticism about it’s lack of diversity by creating various thematic groups (T20 for the think tanks , W20 to include women’s voices, Y20 to represent youth, etc.), the exclusive nature of such memberships has been a major barrier for the non-member countries. Emerging economies cite that G20 became a governing body that makes major policy decisions affecting developing countries without any accountability process and inclusivity6 . Moreover, current G20 members are not picked based on a GDP and a size of population. More than 173 countries are excluded from the formal structure of G20: Africa is represented by South Africa only, while other regions (Americas and Asia) have more than 6 countries as members. Lack of democratic authority is yet another argument against current G20 processes because the group is self-appointed. Decision-making is controlled by the participating members thus excluding other important international players. Therefore, it is crucial to ensure continuity and legitimacy of a G20 work by introducing a diverse and permanent governing body that will be responsible for assessing policy implementations .
4Rood, Jan. “Transnational Governance and Democratic Legitimacy: The Case of the G20 and Financial- Economic Cooperation.” (July 2014) https://www.clingendael.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/Transnational%20Governance%20and%20Democratic %20Legitimacy%20-%20G20.pdf 5 Mabera, Faith. "Africa and the G20: A Relational View of African Agency in Global Governance." South African Journal of International Affairs 26.4 (2019): 583-99. Print. 6 Rood, Jan. “Transnational Governance and Democratic Legitimacy: The Case of the G20 and Financial- Economic Cooperation”. (July 2014) https://www.clingendael.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/Transnational%20Governance%20and%20Democratic %20Legitimacy%20-%20G20.pdf
6 T20 plays an important role in the transnational policy community. However, participating institutions are faced with a number of issues pertinent to power, legitimacy and accountability. Not all engagement groups are equal with regard to access to the G20 process. Power struggles within groups, determined by access to resources and capacity, may mean that certain actors have an advantage over the less advantaged ones7. Clearly, improvements are needed in Think20 governance. Current structure does not allow for an inclusive and diverse participation of key policy think tanks, which can potentially lead to a unilateral representation of global regions and relevant policy issues. Global Solutions Initiative (GSI) is an important structure to collect and disseminate documents produced by Think20 group, however, it cannot be a single organization to govern a T20 conference each year due to a number of factors. First, GSI’s administrative structure is represented by a single country. Such governance can lead to a bias related to the coverage of the conference, advisory committee membership, and overall objective of T20. Second, there is no known monitoring mechanism. Transparency is one of the most crucial elements of any organizational work, but lack of external observation can lead to lack of inclusivity. Finally, gaps in representation create a skewed vision of important policy issues and negatively affect the transdisciplinary nature of T20. Thus, improvements in governance are crucial to address gaps in representation. Naoyuki Yoshino, T20 Japan 2019 chair and dean of the Asian Development Bank Institute, talks in his interview that it is important to invest in infrastructure to assure transparency and a successful governance model. He calls upon major international development banks like the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, and the IMF to be involved in monitoring and governance of all of the T20 structures8. The T20 is positioned to become a diverse and representative organization that surpasses the scope of the G20 itself. As a private association with an informal governance structure, the T20 is capable of forming its own institutionalized system and determining the inclusion of underrepresented groups. The T20 is a relatively new body, and is still subject to the traditional North-South relations in which developed economies set the agenda and developing countries’ inputs are subject to exclusion.9 Amendments to the informal and frequently inconsistent structure of the T20 are needed to ensure the association’s success in presenting the most comprehensive policy recommendations possible. Apart from diversity and inclusion within the G20 and the non-G20 countries, the G20 and T20 also require
7 Mabera, Faith. "Africa and the G20: A Relational View of African Agency in Global Governance." South African Journal of International Affairs 26.4 (2019): 583-99. Print.
8 Eric Johnston, “With the G20 facing numerous challenges, do the summit's engagement groups have the answers?” 9 Stone, Diane. “The Group of 20 transnational policy community: governance networks, policy analysis, and think tanks.” International Review of Administrative Sciences 81.4 (2015): 793-811
7 democracy, policy relevance, sustainability of funds, and transparency in order to achieve good and equitable governance. Strong G20 performance in democracy diffusion can largely be attributed to the inclusion of non- democratic states, such as China, as their presence represents the G20’s commitment to increasing democratic legitimacy. The G20 is gradually becoming the world’s decision-making center as it is ever expanding and adopting a more domestically intrusive agenda on matters not limited to economic development. As a post-Westphalian international institution, the growing involvement of civil society increases compliance amongst members.10 With the gradual expansion of G20’s scope, influence and agenda, the G20 has embraced discussions on democracy. However, scholarly criticism has pointed to these discussions as potential sources of political divisions, tensions and fissures that will overshadow the international economic spirit that the G20 was established for. To further increase the legitimacy and influence of the G20, non-G20 members, especially those of underrepresented regions should be connected with G20. (Wihardja).11 A more active and institutionalized forum can mitigate resistance and forge the G20’s path towards a more legitimate and inclusive global governance system.12 According to Michael Horowitz, there are four key concepts at the core of discussions of policy relevance: Policy significance, policy accessibility, policy actionability, and public debate13. Organizational flexibility has been the key advantage of all X20s to avoid a central bureaucracy that dominates the agenda and to be able to adapt to a challenging global environment. However, it is difficult for national policymakers and IOs, tangled in their own bureaucratic and existential problems (in the case of IOs), to bring new perspectives to the table. As Richard Baldwin - one of the keynotes at the T20
Turkey launch event - put it: “Policy influence is not an event but a process”14. New ideas and their effective communication should have both short-run and long-run targets. Some of this year’s T20 ideas will influence the Turkish Presidency while others will influence next year's Chinese presidency. Some ideas may even raise questions regarding the future shape of global challenges that are difficult to spot. Recognizing the source and sustainability of funds for the think tanks is essential in maintaining the integrity and reliability of think tank recommendations and policies. Naturally, each region has a different approach to funding and how funders are involved in the policy making process. In Saudi Arabia, a think tank like King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center can claim to adhere to
10 Kirton, John, “Democratizing G20 Governance: Performance and Possibilities” The G20 and the Democratic Shortcomings of Global Governance, November 8-9 2012. 11 Wihardja, Maria Monica, “The G20 and Global Democracy.” 12 Robert Benson and Michael Zürn (2019) Untapped potential: How the G20 can strengthen global governance, South African Journal of International Affairs, 26:4, 549-562, DOI: 10.1080/10220461.2019.1694576 13 https://www.fpri.org/article/2015/06/what-is-policy-relevance/ 14 http://www.t20turkey.org/eng/pages/blog/b10.html
8 “objective, independent research”[1] while simultaneously having Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman Al-Saud on the board of trustees. The lines between government and independent funding are blurred in the Saudi perspective. In the USA, the majority of think tanks are independent and autonomous, but have varying sources of funding and therefore influence. In 2017, the think tank New America spent a significant fraction of their resources researching and fighting monopolies, but suddenly shut down the program after the director criticized Google as monopolistic, one of the think tank’s biggest funders.[2] The relationship between big tech and US think tanks serves to be explored further. In many non G20 countries, think tanks are dependent on foreign sources of funding in order to stay afloat.[3] In recognizing the significance of funding sources and how they are to flow into the think tank, it is important to view those sources’ reliability and sustainability. If a think tank were to depend on the government, yet publish findings against the government’s expectation, there will definitely be a questioning as to whether or not that think tank can rely on the government any longer. The same principle goes for any funders who do expect the think tanks to align with them ideologically and produce content accordingly.
[1] https://www.kapsarc.org/about/
[2] https://www.npr.org/2017/09/20/551364067/who-controls-think-tanks-shift-in-funding-highlights-changes-in- the-industry [3] https://onthinktanks.org/articles/searching-for-sustainable-funding-models-lessons-from-otts-support-to-latin- american-think-tanks/
Transparency is a key issue that impacts the perceived validity and trust in the G20 and T20. Therefore, ensuring transparency is important when creating an advisory board considering continuing controversies surrounding transparency within international organizations. For example, in the think tank industry in the United Kingdom is facing a shift towards transparency. 72% of those surveyed in a On Think Tanks survey in the UK agreed that think tanks need to publish their donors.15 Similarly the EPIN Think Tanks
15 Baertl, A., 2018. Think Tank Perceptions In The UK: The Importance Of Understanding Our Audiences’ Views And Needs. [online] Onthinktanks.org. Available at:
9 Task Force meeting of October 2005 that took place in Brussels found that EU citizens have become critical of Euro-think tanks due to a rise in Euroscepticism. Therefore, the EU Commission has become more transparent and Euro-think tanks are under increasing pressure to publicly state how they are funded, how their budget is used, what contacts they have with policy-makers, and where their researchers come from. 16 Additionally, many think tanks are aspiring to meet the “gold standard” in the field which is a 5-star disclosure level which means that they “publish not only the names of their donors, but also the exact amount given by each funder, and the specific research project or other purpose each contribution was destined for.”17 This will be a useful mechanism for an advisory board to ensure that there is trust in the institution.
While an external monitoring body can assure transparency in governance, it is important to address exclusivity in the current T20 administration. We propose including top foreign policy think tanks to be members of an international advisory board represented by the prominent policy organizations of G20 countries and other institutions around the globe. The new advisory board should be diverse in regional representation, policy areas, gender, and opinion, offering underrepresented developing nations the ability to affect change in the T20 agenda.
T20 Countries Analysis
This country-by-country analysis of T20 participation is in the order of countries that have submitted the most number of policy briefs to the T20, according to data provided by G20 Insights. Other evidence of T20 participation analyzed include members on T20 advisory boards, members of T20 task forces, and the experience of hosting a T20 summit. This analysis aims to demonstrate the disparity in activity and influence in the T20 policy making process within the pool of G20 countries.
United States
16 EPIN Think Tanks Task Force, 2005. Ideas, Influence And Transparency - What Could Think Tanks Learn And Contribute?. 17 Bruckner, T., 2016. Think Tanks In The UK Are Revealing Who Funds Them, With The Sector Seemingly Embracing Transparency. [online] Democratic Audit UK. Available at:
10 The United States of America is located in central North America between Canada and Mexico with a highly diverse population of approximately 328 million spanning across 50 states. On a federal level, the U.S. has no official language, though 27 states have passed laws proclaiming English as the official language for government communication.18 The United States, though a fairly young country of only 246 years, maintains its status as a global superpower playing a key leading role in international institutions, such as the UN and NATO. The United States ranks #1 in Nominal GDP Rankings in the world with an estimated 21.49 trillion dollars.19 The United States is NATO’s largest contributor, spending approximately 3.42% of its real GDP in 2019.20 The United States largely contributes to global discussions as a member of the G20 and G7, and has an extensive think tank network to facilitate such discussions. According to the 2019 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report, 2,058 known think tanks are located in North America and 90.9% of North
American think tanks are situated in the United States with 1,871 think tanks.21 The United States ranks
#1 for the county with the largest number of think tanks worldwide.22 The nation’s capital, Washington D.C., holds the largest percentage of U.S. think tanks with 408 institutions, and is followed by
Massachusetts, California, New York, Virginia with 176, 172, 150, 107 think tanks respectively.23 24 American think tanks are ranked as 2019 Top Think Tanks Worldwide (U.S. and non-U.S), with the U.S. based think tank, Brookings Institute, named “Worldwide (U.S. and non-U.S.) Center of Excellence for
2016-2018.24 The United States maintains leading rankings in all categories in the 2019 Global Go To Index including Top Defense and National Security, Top Domestic Economic Policy Think Tanks, Top Education Policy Think Tanks, 2019 Top Energy and Resource Policy Think Tanks, Top Global Health Policy Think Tanks, International Development Policy Think Tank and Top Science and Technology Policy Think Tanks. Reports of partisanship, and lack of transparency and intellectual independence damages American think tanks in an increasingly politically polarized environment. The growth in think tank staff who previously served as legislative or executive officials raise questions on the credibility of the research and policy from these institutions. The political and philosophical orientation of an institution’s
18 Hunter Schwarz, “States where English is the Official Language,” Washington Post, 12 Nov, 2004. 19 “GDP Ranked by Country 2020,” World Population Review, 2020, accessed 21 July, 2020
11 staff can hamper the nonpartisan quality of the work produced.25 The emergence of 24/7 media of a sensationalist orientation and increased polarization amongst the public, and legislative and executive branches have had negative consequences on think tanks, as reported from 34 leading US think tanks in a
2005 study.26 Nevertheless, these challenges simultaneously exhibit positive consequences as extensive media coverage leads to a higher demand for output from think tanks and increased partisan politics and globalization generates interest in foreign policy that forces think tanks to conduct focused research.27 Despite criticism, think tanks continue to influence domestic and international policy and produce future- oriented policies. The United States hosted two G20 summits in Washington D.C. and Pittsburgh during the George W. Bush administration and Barack Obama administration in 2008 and 2009, respectively. The G20 hosted two summits each year until the South Korea G20 Presidency declared a G20 Summit would occur once annually with member countries rotating who would preside over the G20. Since the Think20 (T20) engagement group began in 2012, the U.S. never hosted a T20 summit. G20 member countries were tasked with addressing the 2008 financial crisis during the 2008 G20 Washington Summit, referred to as the Bretton Woods II. The 2009 G20 Pittsburgh summit solidified the G20’s future as the new permanent council for international economic cooperation replacing the G8 and inviting major developing countries such as China, India and Brazil to become member countries. Three U.S. based think tanks are nominated for a new international advisory board. These institutions are Brookings Institute, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and RAND Corporation and actively conduct research on matters pertaining to the G20 and participate in the T20. Brookings Institute has submitted 17 policy briefs to the G20 according to G20 Insights, and a Brookings Institute representative served as a T20 co-chair for 8 of those briefs. Carnegie submitted 1 policy brief according to G20 Insights. RAND experts have engaged in G20 processes in the past.28
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany and German Deutschland, is one of the most politically stable democracies, and economically and militarily advanced countries in the world. As a key actor in European and global affairs, Germany is a member of the G20 and G7, and is ranked fourth
25 Pg 10-11 https://www.kas.de/c/document_library/get_file?uuid=720e9151-74aa-8525-7ff8- ffcacde0cc5c&groupId=252038 26 https://www.kas.de/c/document_library/get_file?uuid=720e9151-74aa-8525-7ff8-ffcacde0cc5c&groupId=252038 27 Pg 24-25 https://www.kas.de/c/document_library/get_file?uuid=720e9151-74aa-8525-7ff8- ffcacde0cc5c&groupId=252038 28 https://www.rand.org/events/g20.html
12 in the world in terms of nominal GDP with a $4 trillion. Germany is located in the northern part of central and western Europe bordering Denmark, Poland, Czech Republic, Austria, Switzerland, France, Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands. With over 95% of Germany’s population of 83.02 million speaking German as their first language, German is the official language of the state though minority languages such as Sorbian and North Frisian is spoken by approximately 0.09% and 0.01% of the population respectively. Out of 2,219 think tanks in Europe, Germany hosts 218 think tanks and ranks second in the number of think tanks in Western Europe under the United Kingdom. Other countries in Western Europe include: Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and Vatican City. Germany ranks sixth in the category of “Countries with the Largest Number of Think Tanks.” 11 German Think Tanks rank in the “2019 Top Think Tanks Worldwide(US and Non-US” category. The German think tanks to rank as the top worldwide and their respective rankings are Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS) (#15), Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES) (#17), Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP) ( (#29), German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP) (#49), Transparency International (TI) (#52), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW) (#62), Bonn International Center for Conversion (BICC) (#67), Heinrich Boll Foundation (HBS) (#88), Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) (#122), Ifo Institute – Leibniz Institute for Economic Research (#145), and Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom (FNF) (#160. Germany assumed the twelfth G20 presidency and hosted the G20 Summit in Hamburg Messe in the city of Hamburg, Germany on July 7 and 8th of 2017. Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel) based in Germany and German Development Institute/Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE) based in Germany co-chaired the Think20 (T20) under the German G20 presidency in 2017. IfW Kiel received 7 rankings in the 2019 Global Go To Think Tank Index: 2019 Top International Development Policy Think Tanks (#117), 2019 Top Domestic Economic Policy Think Tanks (#18),2019 Top International Economics Policy Think Tanks (#21),2019 Top Think Tanks in Western Europe (#39), 2019 Top Think Tanks Worldwide (Non-US) (#45), Best Think Tank Conference (#31), and 2019 Top Think Tanks Worldwide (U.S. and non-U.S.) (#62). IfW Kiel’s leadership board consists of two directors, one male and one female of German descent: Gabriel Felbermayr and Dr. Sonja Peterson. IfW Kiel receives its basic funding by the German Federal Government and the state of Schleswig-Holstein, but pursues third-party funding in addition to its government funding. The German Development Institute was categorized as one of the “Best Artificial Intelligence (AI) Think Tanks 2019.” The German Development Institute’s leadership committee hosts two directors, both women of German descent specializing in sociology: Dr. Anna-Katharina Hornidge, and Dr. Imme Scholz. Both think tanks do not have any centers abroad. At the T20 Summit, German co-chairs hosted over 200 representatives from Think20 Engagement Groups and over 1,000 attendees including Günther Oettinger and German Environment
13 Minister Barbara Hendricks. The co-chairs established the task forces based T20 process that would be used in future T20 summits and presidencies. Each task force specialized on one policy field and serves as an effective means of developing concrete policy proposals to the G20. Each task force is co-chaired by leaders of think tanks worldwide. The T20 had 12 task forces: 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, G20 and Africa, Circular Economy, Climate Policy and Finance, Financial Resilience, Forced Migration, Global Inequality and Social Cohesion, International Cooperation in Tax Matters, Resilience and Inclusive Growth, The Digital Economy, Toward Ending Hunger and Sustainable Agriculture, and Trade and Investment. The T20 produced 20 recommendations in the following policy areas: digitalization, creating a sustainable global economy, climate policy and finance, combating hunger and food inequalities, forced migration, 2030 Agenda for human development. The German T20 called for G20 collaboration on employment and education in the current digital age, the promotion of market forces to support low-carbon growth and the consideration of a permanent seat for the African Union Commission to increase inclusivity. IfW Kiel and DIE collaborated on the establishment of the Global Solutions Initiative (GSOI), a global collaborative enterprise advising the G20 and G7 through policy recommendations and its support for the T20. It has been hosted in Berlin since its inception and is currently led by President Dennis J. Snower, Ph.D., former president for Kiel Institute for the World Economy.In 2019 during the Japan G20 Presidency, GSI hosted 1,600 participants with 120 countries and 221 speakers in 60 sessions. It should be noted that the GSI is hosted every year in Germany, whereas the T20 follows the chair rotation of the G20 and acquires a new host country each year to ensure all countries of the G20 are equally represented. The three German think tanks nominated for a new T20 advisory board are the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP), Global Solutions Initiative (GSI), and Kiel Institute for the World Economy. Collectively, these three think tanks have submitted 32 policy recommendations to the G20 since 2016 according to G20 Insights. As co-chair for the T20 German presidency, Kiel has extensive experience in the T20 process as a co-chair and in the years to follow where a representative of Kiel has not been a co-chair. DGAP, GSI and IfW Kiel report and conduct research relating to the G20 and T20 as documented on their websites. Given G20 principles of democracy and inclusivity, German think tanks, specifically IfW and GSI need to evaluate their role in creating a non-inclusive partnering structure to the T20. In accordance with the G20 principle established during the 2010 South Korea G20 Presidency, the president of the G20 in a given year is determined through a system of rotation. All member countries of the G20 are divided into five rotating groups. Every year, a country in a new group is eligible to preside over the G20. The countries in the G20 group must all agree on what state should preside over the G20 in the coming year. The rotating system is critical in securing the democratic, representative and open nature of the G20 as all member states are eligible to host. GSI created by IfW Kiel is only hosted in Berlin, Germany, which can potentially shape foreign policy in accordance to Germany’s agenda and limit the influence and representation other countries have. GSI’s team mainly consists of German nationals and is primarily
14 funded by major German foundations and public institutions. GSI lacks commitment to inclusivity given their CGP Member Institution list and the creation of the T20 standing group. The degree of transparency has fluctuated through GSI’s G20 Insights platform as the site only shares policy briefs that are selected by GSI’s team. It is critical that any global enterprise established for the T20 is an open, democratic and sustainable structure for the T20. Partners must build a mutually beneficial exchange involving all G20 countries and simultaneously include non-G20 countries. For these reasons, GSI and IfW must evaluate the representation of the GSI and its potential bias on foreign policy.
Japan
Japan is an island country located in the East Asian region with a population of 126.5 million. The official language is Japanese. According to data collected by TTCSP, Japan has 128 think tanks and ranks 9th country in the world for hosting the largest number of think tanks. Top think tanks include Japan Institute for International Affairs (JIIA), a private and non-partisan policy think tank focusing on foreign affairs and security issues,29 and Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI), a government affiliated institution providing intellectual input for policy makers in its 68 developing country members.30 Most think tanks in Japan are non-independent and either government-affiliated research institutes or subsidiaries of large private corporations and established after 1960.31 In June 2019, Japan hosted the G20 summit for the first time in its second largest city Osaka. The summit, led by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, focused on eight themes towards ensuring global sustainable development. A month before the G20 summit, the T20 official engagement group summit was held in Tokyo, chaired by Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI) in coordination with the Japan Institute of International Affairs (JIIA) and Institute for International Monetary Affairs (IIMA). The official theme was set as “Seeking a Sustainable, Inclusive, and Resilient Society.” Leading up to the summit, evidence-based research and analysis to be applied to the policy recommendations were conducted by 10 different task forces on various topics: 1) 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development 2) International Financial Architecture for Stability and Development/Crypto- assets and Fintech 3) Climate Change and Environment 4) Economic Effects of Infrastructure Investment and its Financing 5) Cooperation with Africa 6) Social Cohesion, Global Governance and the Future of Politics 7) The Future of Work and Education for the Digital Age 8) Trade, Investment and Globalization
29 “About Japan Institute of International Affairs.” JIIA, https://www2.jiia.or.jp/en/aboutus.php 30 “About Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI).” ADBI, https://www.adb.org/adbi/about 31 See recent article by Kuni Miyake, president of Foreign Policy Institute and research director at Canon Institute of Global Studies, on the nature of think tanks in Japan. “Why Think Tanks Matter.” Japan Times, https://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2020/01/20/commentary/japan-commentary/think-tanks-matter- japan/#.Xw4uVi2ZM6U
15 9) SME Policy faced with Development of Financial Technology 10) Aging Population and its Economic Impact + Immigration. Lead Co-Chairs of the task forces represented not only the major think tanks in Japan but also other countries’ institutions including Brookings Institution (USA), African Development Bank (Côte D’Ivoire), and Global Solutions Initiative (Germany). A total of 108 policy recommendations were created and submitted to G20 leaders through the T20 Communiqué. The G20 research group has found that 46% of the T20 recommendations submitted were realized in the G20 commitments, a 22% increase from the 2018 summit in Argentina32. All submitted policy briefs for T20 Japan are viewable on the T20 Japan official website and ADBI’s website in addition to the platform of selected policy briefs on G20 Insights. Japan is the 4th country in the world to submit the most number of policy briefs to the T20 behind USA, Germany, and the United Kingdom. G20 Insights features 63 policy briefs submitted by 28 think tanks of Japan. Japan has been strongly active in the T20 process before its presidency in 2019. Shinichi Kitajima of JIIA was invited to serve on the advisory boards for the first T20 summit hosted by Mexico in 2012 as well as in Russia in 2013. In addition, ADBI is a CGP Member Institution of the Global Solutions Initiative. After its successful presidency in 2019, Japan has further increased its involvement in the T20 process. Naoyuki Yoshino, former dean of ADBI, serves on T20 Saudi Arabia’s advisory board. The ADBI website features three policy briefs that it has submitted for the T20 task forces 6, 9, and 11 through joint projects with scholars from China Australia Belt and Road Initiative, Keio University, American Enterprise Institute, and KAPSARC. With its demonstrated strong leadership in the 2019 summit and continued cooperation towards the T20 process, the Asian Development Bank Institute proves to be a good candidate for the new T20 International Advisory board as well as its diversity in demonstrating 14 nationalities. In March 2020, Tetsushi Sonobe was appointed as the new dean of ADBI succeeding Naoyuki Yoshino33.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom is a country consisting of four nations (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales) which is located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. The official language is English, with many regional minority languages spoken. According to the 2019 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report, the United Kingdom has the largest amount of think tanks in Europe with at
32 http://www.g20.utoronto.ca/analysis/t20-2019-recommendations-realized.html 33 https://www.adb.org/adbi/about
16 least 321 known think tanks.34 The UK has the fourth largest number of think tanks out of any country in the world, behind only the United States, India, and China. Think tanks in the UK are world-renowned with three UK think tanks (International Institute for Strategic Studies, Chatham House, and Amnesty International) ranked in the top 20 by the 2019 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report. According to research done by On Think Tanks, the UK public has mixed opinions on the think tank industry. The study found that 52% of those surveyed knew what a think tank was, and 17% trusted what think tanks had to say, while 52% remained unsure. There is also a large push towards transparency in think tanks with 72% of those surveyed agreeing that think tanks need to publish their donors. This has led to transparency initiatives throughout the sector.35 The UK hosted the second G20 summit in 2009. The discussion focused on the world economy and financial markets and was attended by member states, Spain, the Netherlands, and international organizations including the ASEAN, IMF, World Bank, and WTO. In the wake of the financial crisis, the purpose of the summit was to “to start the process of reform so as to manage globalisation as a force for good in the medium term”36 The summit had six aims:
1. Engaging concerted action to counter falling demand and fragile confidence 2. Developing joint actions to prevent further contagion and support vulnerable emerging and developing markets 3. Working together to address the flaws in the financial and supervisory architecture that crisis has exposed 4. Strengthening cross-border co-ordination of financial regulation and international financial institutions like the Financial Stability Forum and the International Monetary Fund 5. Agreeing to boost world trade and reject protectionism as a way of moving towards more stable and secure global commodities markets
6. Reaffirming our shared commitment to meet the Millennium Development Goals37
34 McGann, James G., "2019 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report" (2020). TTCSP Global Go To Think Tank Index Reports. 17. https://repository.upenn.edu/think_tanks/17 35 Baertl, A., 2018. Think Tank Perceptions In The UK: The Importance Of Understanding Our Audiences’ Views And Needs. [online] Onthinktanks.org. Available at:
17 The UK has not yet hosted a T20 summit. However, if it were to host the summit Chatham House would be a good potential host because of their long history, high-ranked status, and their previous hosting of large international events.38 The 35 think tanks and universities in the UK associated with the T20 have submitted 53 policy briefs to the G20. The most policy briefs have been submitted by Chatham House, with 7 policy briefs, followed by the Overseas Development Institute which submitted 5 policy briefs. The policy briefs submitted by Chatham House focus on the future of global governance, Turkish foreign policy, gender equality, and food insecurity. The briefs submitted by the Overseas Development Institute deal with G20 accountability and climate change. Due to their ongoing connection and research on the G20 and T20 both Chatham House and the Overseas Development Institute would be good nominations for the advisory board due to their engagement with the T20 and G20, being leading think tanks in the UK, and being highly ranked in comparison with the rest of the world. The UK needs to better address the relationship with the EU post- Brexit and how this intersects with the future of G20 and global governance.
Argentina
Argentina is an important country within the global context of think tanks, having hosted the G20 and the T20 summit in 2018 in Buenos Aires and containing several of the top think tanks in the region and world. Argentina houses 227 think tanks, the fifth largest number in the world, the second largest in the Americas behind the United States, and the largest within the Central and South American region.39 The think tanks in Argentina are split between independent and private institutions, academic institutions, political foundations, and advocacy groups with the majority of think tanks falling in the private and academic categories.40 The culture of think tanks in Argentina is relatively strong; they are viewed as important parts of the national policy-making process. Studies have shown that think tanks in Argentina
38 Chatham House. 2020. The Future Of Think-Tanks. [online] Available at:
18 are most influential in the identification of problems and the formulation of solutions but have less of an impact on the policy implementation.41
Three of the top think tanks in Argentina, and the think tanks with past influence on the T20 process, are the Consejo Argentino para las Relaciones Internacionales (CARI), the Centro de Implementación de Políticas Públicas para la Equidad y el Crecimiento (CIPPEC), and the Center for the Study of State and Society (CEDES). These three institutions are ranked 35th, 47th, and 79th globally among think tanks excluding the United States.
CIPPEC and CARI were the two host think tanks for the 2018 T20 summit in 2018, which focused broadly on the concepts of strengthening multilateral institutions like the World Trade Organization against the rising threats of protectionism as well as fostering global cooperation through treaties such as the Paris Agreement.42 The chairs of the T20 were Jorge Mandelbaum and Julia Pomares, president and executive director of CIPPEC, and Adalberto Rodríguez Giavarini and José María Lladós, the president and executive director of CARI. The T20 advisory board of 2018 put together by the Argentine hosts was one of the largest and most diverse since the T20 began, including representatives from across the Americas and the world. Given the inconsistency in the composition of advisory boards year-to-year, the 2018 T20 advisory board would be a suitable model to follow to create an internationally representative board.
CARI and CIPPEC represent the two largest sectors of think tanks in Argentina: the academic institutions and the private institutions. CARI is an academic research institution focused on international relations located in Buenos Aires. While their overarching focus is in international relations, the 14 policy briefs from the G20 insights sample to which authors from CARI contributed in 2018 and 2019 covered topics from sustainable energy to international financial architecture. As a former host institution, CARI has maintained high levels of interaction with T20 in the period since the Buenos Aires summit. CIPPEC has also shown very high interaction with the T20 since 2018, having contributed to 24 policy recommendations contained within the G20 Insights online database, one of the highest numbers for any individual institution. It is a private non-partisan institution that is dedicated to equitable economic and social development in Argentina through governance reforms. Apart from the two former host think tanks
41 Camou, Antonio (2006). El Saber detrás del Trono, en: A. Garcé y G. Uña (comps.) Think tanks y políticas públicas en Latinoamérica. Dinámicas globales y realidades regionales. IDRC y KAS Buenos Aires: Prometeo Libros, 2006. 42 https://t20argentina.org/publicacion/the-t20-communique/
19 of which many members of the international community would be familiar, the Center for the Study of State and Society (CEDES) is a high-profile institution within Argentina that was represented on the advisory board for the 2018 summit. Given Argentina’s strong academic think tank sector, it is no surprise that several universities were also represented on the advisory board and in policy contributions.
According to G20 Insights, Argentina is the fourth-most represented country in recent policy contributions behind the United States, Germany, and Japan. Unsurprisingly, those countries that have recently hosted T20 summits also have submitted the most policy briefs, but this trend also demonstrates the increase in T20 engagement that occurs after hosting a summit in observing Argentine contributions to the 2019 Tokyo summit.
In creating a new international advisory board, the natural choices would be CIPPEC and CARI, but considering that it might be constructive to have a think tank that was not a former T20 host, CEDES is also a prominent Argentine think tank with experience in the G20 and T20 that could join the other two institutions as a third nominee.
India
India has played a vital role in the global economy and international political relations considering it hosts the second largest population in the world. Along with its position as a G20 nation, India influences the global and social economy through its main exports of petroleum products, gems and jewelry, and a labor force of roughly 170 million people in which a majority are involved with the manufacturing and outsourcing of major corporations such as Nike43. India houses 509 think tanks, which is the second largest in the world following the United States and is the largest host in Asia. Despite the healthy growth in recent years, think tanks in India still suffer from certain shortcomings that hinder policy influence. Although these think tanks range from advocacy groups to government affiliated institutions, they are considered research hubs for data analysis rather than an integral component of governmental policy making44. The top three think tanks in India are the Brookings Institution (India chapter), Observer Research Foundation (ORF), and the Institute of Defense Studies and Analyses (IDSA) which are ranked 23rd, 27th, and 41st globally. ORF is funded by various business groups with a focus on a variety of domestic
43 https://www.ibef.org/economy/indian-economy-overview 44 https://onthinktanks.org/articles/do-indias-foreign-policy-think-tanks-need-to-wield-more-power/
20 development policies while IDSA is non-partisan and autonomous but centers their research around domestic security and international relations. India’s global influence has been on the rise and reasonably will be hosting the T20 summit in 2022 with ORF as the host think tank. The main policy areas of research for ORF give light to possible task forces for the summit: climate change, food security, domestic development, energy, gender inclusion, healthcare, international affairs, media and internet. In addition to ORF, the IDSA could also be an effective nominee for co-hosting the summit due to their history of setting up international policy conferences to speak about international defense and social cohesion between Asian nations. According to G20 insights, twelve Indian think tanks have submitted a cumulative of 36 policy recommendations which ranks second in Asia behind Japan and fifth globally, underscoring their credibility to host a summit.
France
France is located in the western side of continental Europe and has a population of over 67 million. The official language is French, with many regional minority languages spoken. According to the
2019 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report, there are 203 official think tanks in France.45 Therefore, France has the fourth highest number of think tanks in Europe after the United Kingdom, Russia, and Germany. France has the eighth highest number of think tanks in the world. French think tanks are world- renowned, with the French Institute of International Relations (IFRI) ranking as the third best Non-US think tank worldwide. According to On Think Tanks, the average age of a French think tank is 24 years. According to a report released by Thierry de Montbrial and Thomas Gomart of the IFRI named “What is a Think Tank? A French Perspective,” think tanks remain relatively unknown in France.46 They argue that there are cyclical and structural reasons why French think tanks lag behind American think tanks in terms of their relationship with policy making. They argue that the French system is very state-centric and taxation is high which has left little room for think tanks to develop. Where the Anglosphere model is based on the principle of advocacy, in the French model the state creates its own bodies of expertise and control. 47
France hosted the 6th G20 Conference in 2011 in Cannes. The summit was attended by member states and other countries including UAE, Spain, Singapore, and Ethiopia. International Organizations
45 McGann, James G., "2019 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report" (2020). TTCSP Global Go To Think Tank Index Reports. 17. https://repository.upenn.edu/think_tanks/17 46 French Institute of International Relations, 2020. What Is A Think Tank? A French Perspective. 47 Ibid.
21 attending include the African Union, IMF, European Central Bank, and UN. This summit was held during the height of the Eurozone crisis and was focused on agriculture and food security. The summit led to the adoption of the Cannes Action Plan for Growth and Jobs, the launch of the Agricultural Market Information System (AMIS) and the endorsement of an Action Plan on Food Price Volatility and
Agriculture.48 The priorities of the summit were:
1. Reform the International Monetary System. 2. Strengthen financial regulation, especially in non-banking financial institutions as well as regulation concerning financial market integrity and transparency. 3. Reduce excessive commodity price volatility and enhance food security. 4. Support employment and strengthen the social dimension of globalization. 5. Fight corruption, for example by ensuring that the Anti-Corruption Action Plan adopted in the 2010 G20 Seoul summit will produce concrete results and real progress starting in 2011. 6. Support infrastructure development and enhance food security in the most vulnerable
countries.49 There are 18 French think tanks that are affiliated with the T20 who have submitted a total of 32 policy briefings to the G20. The Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations (IDDRI) and International Panel for Social Progress (IPSP) both submitted 5 policy briefs. The IDDRI have submitted policy briefings on climate change and sustainability. Due to their ongoing connection on research on the G20 and T20 both the Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations and International Panel for Social Progress would both be effective nominations for the advisory board. In addition, the French Institute of International Relations should also be considered because of its status and impact on French and international policy.
South Africa
South Africa is located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa. There are eleven official languages in the country including Zulu (24.7% of population), Xhosa (15.6%), Afrikaans (12.1%), and others. South Africa has a long history of colonialism being occupied by the Dutch traders who
48 G20.utoronto.ca. 2020. Cannes Summit Outcomes. [online] Available at:
22 established their settlements in 1652 and then by the British Empire. A policy of apartheid was initiated in 1948, which led to the years of internal political and civil turmoil. 50
During those years, South African government has practiced a restrictive immigration rule, but state became more inclusive after apartheid policy was abolished in 1994. New reform allowed refugees from the neighboring countries to enter South Africa in search of jobs, but many skilled labourers left due to disappointment with the new political situation. According to the research, brain drain slowed down during the economic crisis of 2008, but there is still an insufficient number of skilled healthcare providers and technologists (CIA).
South Africa is a home for 92 think tanks and civil society programmes, the greatest number of policy organizations compared to other countries in Africa. Four South African institutions have been named top think tank in the world: African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD), South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA), Institute for Security Studies (ISS), and Centre for Conflict Resolution (CCR)51.
SAIIA is the only South African think tank that actively participates in the T20/G20 process as an established partner according to the Global Solutions Initiative. While the head office is located in Johannesburg, there are also branches in Cape Town, Pietermaritzburg and East London. SAIIA is involved in four primary research areas: foreign policy, economic diplomacy, governance, and natural resources. Institutional work is primarily supported by the grants from the international organizations, private donors, and corporate sponsors. SAIIA is a primary candidate to host the T20 meeting in 2025.
Elizabeth Sidiropoulos is an Executive Director of the organization. She is an expert in South Africa’s international relations, international development cooperation among emerging powers, and Africa’s relations with emerging and traditional powers: BRICS, Europe, US (SAIIA). Dr. Sidiropoulos is a co-chair of the T20 Africa Standing Group. Other institutional experts specialize in various topics related to the primary research themes. Demographic distribution of institutional employees include white
South Africans52.
According to G20 Insights, South African policy organizations have submitted a number of policy briefs. SAIIA offers a G20 Toolkit for the organizations that would like to keep track of G20 commitments in relation to Africa. Other notable areas of policy briefs include Social Cohesion and the
50 The World Fact Book, CIA 51 2019 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report 52 Elizabeth Sidiropoulos, Experts, SAIIA.
23 State and International Financial Architecture. Aside from SAIIA, following South African policy organizations have submitted their policy briefs: Africa Institute of South Africa, African Tax Administration Forum (ATAF), Centre for Financial Regulation and Inclusion (Cenfri), Counting Women's Work - University of Cape Town, HSRC BRICS Research Centre, Institute for Global Dialogue (IGD), Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), SATRI-Sam Tambani Research Institute, South African Reserve Bank, University of Capetown, and University of Pretoria.
Since South Africa is predominantly represented by one think tank, I would nominate 2 additional candidates for the advisory board: African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD) and Institute for Security Studies (ISS). ACCORD would be a great candidate because their primary work is centered around peacebuilding and conflict management on the continent. Institutional participation will add to the diversity of members, knowledge and expertise. ISS studies migration, security and development. It will be a viable addition to the advisory board because the institution has a regional representation not just in South Africa, but also in Kenya, Ethiopia, and Senegal, which will assure geographical diversity of policy issues and languages.
Canada Canada is the northernmost country of the three main nations in North America with a population of 37.6 million, ranking 38th in the world. According to the 2019 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report, Canada has 100 think tanks which ranks 12th globally and follows the United States, Argentina, and Brazil in respect to the western hemisphere53. Unlike its counterparts in North America, Canada has less extensive agricultural exports but heavily contributes crude petroleum and aircraft products as exports. Think tanks play a key role as supportive research for public policy, but most of the issues arise in terms of funding. Many think tanks are funded by either philanthropy, private donations, or the government, but are not diverse or extensive enough to sustain long term survival. This raises the issue of how think tanks should be funded as it is not consistent with the number of publications or media references, thus shedding light on monitoring funding to ensure continued research as well as diversified advocacy. The top think tanks in Canada are the Fraser Institute and the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), which ranks 14th and 30th globally. In addition, the Institute for Research on Public Policy (IRPP) is considered the second best think tank in Canada following the Fraser Institute, but is not ranked better than CIGI globally which is due to differences in influence on domestic and international policy initiatives and recommendations. Furthermore, according to G20 insights,
53 2019 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report
24 ten Canadian think tanks are responsible for 24 policy recommendations and ranks 9th amongst the other nations represented. Canada last hosted a T20 summit in 2010 based in Toronto with the theme of “recovery and new beginnings” as most task forces focused on the global financial institutions, open markets, and developing sustainable stimulus measures following the global financial crisis preceding the summit54. The think tanks chose this economic focus as a direct result of the European debt crisis and housing bubble crisis in the United States. A lot has changed in the past decade, but Canada has a crucial influence in G20 due to its location in North America as well as its close affiliation with European nations. The summit in 2010 had representation from 6 other countries not included in G20; however, representation has slowly increasingly diversified over the past decade.
China
China is one of the biggest countries in the world located in East Asia with a population of 1.4 billion. The official language is Mandarin Chinese and Cantonese Chinese. According to the 2019 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report, China has the third most think tanks in the world, with 503 think tanks55. However, based on the information collected by the TTCSP China Think Tank Mapping Team, the actual number is even larger - about 1300+. The majority of Chinese think tanks are governmental, quasi-governmental, or university-affiliated. There is also a small proportion of think tanks which function as NGOs or Consulting Businesses. In the 2019 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report, there are nine Chinese or China-affiliated think tanks listed among the 176 Top Think Tanks Worldwide. According to G20 Insights, nine think tanks and universities in China have submitted 18 policy briefs in total to the G20. China hosted the G20 and T20 summits in 2016, Beijing. The 2016 G20 China theme was “Towards an Innovative, Invigorated, Interconnected and Inclusive World Economy”. The T20 China summit was organized by three major Chinese think tanks - the Institute of World Economics and Politics at CASS, the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies(SIIS) and the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China(RDCY). During China’s Presidency, the Advisory Board consisted of 9 policy experts with 5 nationalities - China (5), Germany (1), Turkey (1), France (1), and the United States (1). As we can tell, China lacks a certain degree of diversity in its Advisory Board representation. For T20 China, all the G20 experts in the
54 "Recession recovery tops G20 agenda". Qatar: Al Jazeera. 28 June 2010 55 2019 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report
25 Advisory Board came from either Asian or Western countries. It is important to include think tanks from MENA and South Africa and bring in more voices from developing countries. I suggest we should nominate the Center for China and Globalization (CCG) for the advisory board, for they have a rising rank in the Global Go To Think Tank Index Report and have been active in submitting policy briefs to T20 summits. CCG is a not-for-profit and non-governmental organization registered with the civil affairs system of Chinese authorities. It is independently funded by research grants and donations from private and corporate donors. The think tank is founded by two well-known scholars, Dr. Wang Huiyao and Dr. Miao Luand, and supported by a business advisory council that consists of over 150 Chinese private entrepreneurs. CCG’s research agenda centers on China’s growing role in the world, drawing from issues of global governance, global trade and investment, global migration, international relations, and other topics pertaining to regional and global development56. We should also consider the Development Research Center of the State Council (DRC) for the leadership. DRC is a comprehensive policy research and consulting institution directly under the State
Council, the central government of the People's Republic of China57. It also has a stronger affiliation with the Chinese government and could offer stronger policy relevancy and a more practical perspective for the T20 summits.
Australia Australia is the largest country in Oceania with a population of 25 million people and focuses exports in non-renewable resources such as natural gas and natural resources such as precious metals. Although Australia is geographically secluded from most of the world, it’s influence in the global economy is in high regard as it ranks 14th with a nominal GDP of $1.4 trillion58. However, Australia has 42 think tanks which pales in comparison to many of its G20 counterparts. The top three think tanks in Australia are the Lowy Institute for International Policy, the Australian Institute for International Affairs (AIIA), and the Centre for Independent Studies which rank 64th, 71st, and 118th globally. This sheds light on the need for more emphasis on think tanks in Australia as in the past few decades they are sometimes viewed more as lobby groups. Contrary to this belief, much of their budget goes to implementing research within public policy recommendations and publications for the government while most think tanks endowments are privately/philanthropically funded or function as an NGO59.
56 http://en.ccg.org.cn/about/about-ccg.html 57 http://en.drc.gov.cn/2013-08/29/content_16930106.htm 58 https://www.investopedia.com/insights/worlds-top-economies/ 59 https://www.smh.com.au/national/making-the-radical-seem-reasonable-what-is-a-think-tank-20191202- p53g3m.html
26 The 2014 T20 Summit was hosted in Sydney by the Lowy Institute and had an advisory board of 15 members from eight other nations: Argentina, Canada, China, Germany, Russia, Turkey, United Kingdom, and the United States. The board was diversified with no bias to one particular country besides Canada having three representatives compared to the average of two. Mike Callaghan served as the director of the Lowy Institute at the time and chose to focus on climate change, 2% global growth proposal, infrastructure investment, trade and open markets, tax and profit shifting, financial regulation, and empowering development. In addition to hosting the summit, according to G20 insights, nine Australian think tanks have submitted a total of 16 policy recommendations which ranks 12th in comparison to other countries represented on the page60. The Lowy institute is Australia’s leading think tank and is an independent, non-partisan think tank located in Sydney, but was founded by shopping-centre philanthropist, Frank Lowy. Lowy centers its main areas of research around international social and economic development through global networking as well as domestic diplomacy and the advocacy of public opinion61. The Lowy institute has been responsible for
24 holistic policy briefs in the last decade, two of which are recognized and considered by G20 insights62. Overall, Australia may geopolitically differ from other world leaders, but the nation has a great influence on Oceania as well as Asia due to its vicinity. Think tanks focused on the global economy and international security can help better Australia’s network with other countries and surpass the geographical boundaries thanks to increased globalization and the digital age.
Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, acts as a key regional and great power leading in economic, military and diplomatic affairs. The Western European state jutting into the Mediterranean Sea is a member of the G7 and G20 ranking as the world’s eighth largest economy with a nominal GDP of 2.0 trillion US dollars.63 Italy’s population is over 60 million with 69.5% of its population living in urban areas primarily speaks Italian as the nation’s official language.64
60 https://www.g20-insights.org/think_tanks/ 61 https://www.lowyinstitute.org/about/programs-and-projects 62 https://www.lowyinstitute.org/publications/policy-briefs 63 https://databank.worldbank.org/data/download/GDP.pdf 64 https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/italy-population/
27 Historically in Europe, foreign policy think tanks struggled to find visibility in an increasingly competitive research marketplace. Nevertheless, the think tank network in Italy continues to expand with
114 think tanks today, an increase of over 28% compared to 89 Italian known think tanks in 2013.65 Six of Italian known think tanks have ranked 37, 38, 133, 150 153 and 169 in the 2019 Global Go To Think
Tank Index as Top Think Tanks Worldwide (U.S. and non-U.S).66 These ranking Italian institutions influence the global policy-making process: Institute for International Political Studies (ISPI), Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI), Istituto Bruno Leoni (IBL), Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM), Centro Euro-Mediterraneo sui Cambiamenti Climatici (CMCC), Centro Studi Internazionali (Ce.S.I.). Italy will assume the G20 presidency for the first time in its history in 2021. Originally scheduled to host the G20 summit in 2022, Italy agreed to allow India to host the summit in its place after India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi requested to host in 2022 to align with the nation’s 75th year of independence.67 Italy will host the T20 summit in conjunction with the G20. The three nominated Italian think tanks to participate in the new international advisory board, International Political Studies (ISPI), Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI), and Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM), actively participate in the G20 and T20 process. ISPI, one of Italy’s oldest think tanks dating back to 1934, is a leading independent, non-partisan and non-profit Italian institution founded in Milan. Committed to research on transatlantic relations, ISPI research includes cybersecurity, radicatliztaiion and international terrorism, infrasture, relgion, migration and specific regional analysis.68 ISPI has contributed six recommendations to the G20, two included an ISPI representative serving as a T20 co-chair. Four policy briefs were submitted under the International Financial Architecture policy area, and the remaining two briefs submitted under Migration and Young Societies during G20 Argentina.69 IAI, an independent, non- profit and non-partisan Italian research institute founded in 1965, produces research aligning with the advancement of European integration and multilateral cooperation.70 IAI contributed two recommendations to the G20 under the policy area of Sustainable Energy, Water and Food Systems, and Economy,
Employment and Education in the Digital Age in 2019 and 2017, respectively.71 FEEM, an non-profit, policy-oriented Italian research center based in Milan, Venice and Basilicata founded in 1989, is committed to producing research on sustainable issues including environmental, energy and global economic
65 https://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1007&context=think_tanks 66 Cite mcgann pg 41, 65-71 67 https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/warmth-in-ties-prompts-italy-to-let-india-host- g20-summit-in-2022/articleshow/66913607.cms 68 https://www.ispionline.it/en/institute 69 https://www.g20-insights.org/think_tanks/istituto-per-gli-studi-di-politica-internazionale-ispi/ 70 https://www.iai.it/en/iai/about-us 71 https://www.g20-insights.org/think_tanks/istituto-affari-internazionali-iai/
28 concerns.72 FEEM has contributed four recommendations to the G20, two being written by a FEEM representative servicing as a T20 Co-Chair. The recommendations covered three policy areas: G20 Support for SDGs and Development Cooperation, Climate Change and Environment, and Migration and Young Societies.
Brazil Brazil is the largest and most populous country in South America, and has recently seen a boom in the number of think tanks and their influence. Think tanks have increased their policy uptake in recent years due to several bouts of economic crisis and governance reforms within the past decade.73 Brazil sustains the 8th largest economy in the world, but is currently in recovery from a recent recession from 2015 to 2016 and suffering from the second worst COVID-19 outbreak in the world behind the United States. Brazil has 103 think tanks, the 11th highest amount in the world, and one think tank, the Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV) ranked in the top 100 globally. The top think three tanks in Brazil are the Getulio Vargas Foundation, ranked 5th in the world and the Central and South American Center for Excellence 2016-2018 according to the Go To Think Tank Index, the Centro Brasileiro de Relações Interacionais (CEBRI, 2nd in Central and South America), and the BRICS Policy Center (10th in Central and South America). Within Brazil, think tanks are viewed as essential in the public policy process but also polarized around central issues such as economic austerity.74 Brazil has not hosted a G20 or T20 summit but is planning to host the 2024 T20 summit. The host think tanks have not yet been revealed. As far as T20 engagement is concerned, there are not many think tanks in Brazil that have contributed to policy briefs in the last several years according to the G20 Insights database run by the Global Solutions Initiative, but engagement from two of the top think tanks in Brazil, FGV and the BRICS policy center, is relatively high among think tanks from the Central and South American region and provide suitable options for hosting the T20 summit. The Getulio Vargas Foundation is the top-ranked think tank in Latin America and sustains many global partnerships making it an important think tank in the international community. Headed by President Carlos Ivan Simonsen Leal, researchers from FGV have contributed to four different policy briefs for the past few summits within the G20 support for SDG’s and Development Cooperation and Climate change and the environment task forces. The think tank covers many different topics in its research papers and published journals, including but not limited to Administration, Energy, Economics, International Relations, and Public Policy. Additionally, FGV heads the Applied Research and Knowledge network, an
72 73 https://brazilian.report/business/2017/12/12/brazils-think-tank-boom/ 74 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14494035.2017.1397396
29 initiative to collect research from private and public sector institutions with the goal of uniting research institutions in Brazil and around the world.75 The BRICS policy center affiliated with the Institute of International relations of the Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio) is a top-rated think tank nationally and regionally (3rd in Brazil and 10th in Central and South America), and holds over 50 cooperative partnerships with institutions around the world. A frequent location for summits, the BRICS policy center has also contributed to three policy recommendations according to G20 insights for the Trade, Investment, and Growth and G20 support for SDGs and Development Cooperation task forces. The institution is led by director Paulo Luiz Moreaux Lavigne Esteves and focuses on the effects that global issues have on Brazil and the global south as a whole, promoting a rights-based agenda and the alleviation of inequalities.76 Compared to other countries in its region, Brazil has had a relatively high level of T20 engagement throughout the years, but has yet to host a summit. The policy briefs put forward by its top institutions are primarily in the field of development and represent the perspectives and issues coming out of the global south. If Brazil was to host a T20 summit, the two most likely candidates would be the Getulio Vargas Foundation and the BRICS policy center, both of which are influential in their home country and region, highly connected to the international community, and experienced in hosting summits and forums for discussing policy. Both of these institutions would be well-suited to participate in a new international advisory board for the T20, with a potential third think tank for Brazililian representation being the well- regarded think tank Centro Brasileiro de Relações Interacionais (CEBRI), which has not engaged much with the T20 but is one of the best think tanks in Central and South America.77
Turkey Turkey is a country located at the intersection of Europe and Asia with a population of around 82 million. The official language is Turkish albeit the large portion of the populace being Kurdish speakers. Per the 2019 TTCSP database, Turkey is the home of 48 think tanks, with the most prominent consisting of the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV), an independent, non-governmental organization focusing on a variety of factors related to socioeconomic and political issues in Turkey. Another think tank is the Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey (TEPAV), another non- governmental economic policy think tank and the Centre for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies (EDAM), an independent think tank focusing on security, foreign policy, economics, and Turkey’s general relationship with the rest of the world. Through research conducted by the TTCSP, the largest portion of
75 https://portal.fgv.br/en/applied-research-and-knowledge-network 76 http://www.bricspolicycenter.org/en/about/#the-brics-policy-center 77 https://www.cebri.org/
30 Turkish think tanks are autonomous and independent, with the second largest group of think tanks being university affiliated research centers.
Turkey’s presidency of the G20 reigned in 2015 for the first time. The 10th summit was hosted in Antalya by AKP President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in November 2015. The most pressing issues of the summit consisted of counter-terrorism and the global refugee crisis as a consequence of the Syrian Civil War, Erdogan’s speech consisted of a direct need for increased national and global security, stating that
“we should struggle against all terrorist organizations without discrimination.” 78 Given the back-to-back terrorist attacks in Turkey and the coup attempt in the same year, there is an indubitable consciousness in presenting the counter-terrorism and national security framework in the same year Turkey hosted the G20/T20. The main themes focused during the G20/T20 summit consisted of broad economic growth, development and climate change, terrorism and the refugee crisis, enhancing resilience, and trade and energy.[2]79 However, the three most significant pillars of the summit were 1) Strengthening the Global Recovery and Lifting the Potential, 2) Enhancing Resilience, 3) Buttressing Sustainability. In 2015, The Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey (TEPAV) hosted the T20 summit. The 2015 T20 Policy Papers released research policy papers on four topics: Macroeconomic Coordination and Financial Stability, Trade and Investment for Development, Inclusivity and Competition, and Infrastructure Financing and
Sustainable Development.80 All of these papers can be found on the Turkish T20 website. In 2019, Turkey has shown to be one of the lesser involved countries in the G20 summit. According to G20 insights, there have been only five recommendations from TEPAV, focusing on immigration, sustainability and growth, integration, and trade. EDAM recommended only one policy brief titled
“Forming a Cohesive Fintech Agenda for the G20.” 81 The only other Turkish entity involved with the G20 is Abdullah Gul University, which has yet to submit any policy briefs or recommendations. For the 2020 summit, it appears that TEPAV has the most involvement, with think tank affiliates serving on the boards for the T20 task forces. This leads TEPAV to be the most qualified Turkish think tank to serve on the T20 advisory board. With members already so heavily involved in the T20 and G20 summit and a continuous track record of commitment to the G20 goals, TEPAV and its longstanding cooperation with the G20 summit can only further improve the T20 advisory board. Their experience in hosting the summit will not only prove to be
78 https://www.tccb.gov.tr/en/exclusive/g20/1/ 79 https://www.tccb.gov.tr/en/exclusive/g20/3/ 80 http://www.t20turkey.org/eng/pages/research/r36.html 81 https://www.g20-insights.org/policy_briefs/forming-a-cohesive-fintech-agenda-for-the-g20-3/
31 beneficial, but their insight on changing factors from the past five years can help shed light on the path moving forward.
Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of more than seventeen thousand islands. The official language is Indonesian, but it has over 700 regional languages. According to the 2019 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report, there are 31 think tanks based in Indonesia. There is only one think tank listed in the 2019 Top Think Tanks Worldwide (U.S. and non-U.S.) ranking - Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) (Indonesia). Indonesia will host the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, and the Group of Twenty, or G-20, meetings in 2023 in the port town of Labuan Bajo on the island of Flores in East Nusa Tenggara. In order to shoulder this responsibility, Indonesia needs to boost its think tank industry and show good representativeness of the ASEAN countries. I would nominate the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA). The Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia or ERIA is an international organization established in Jakarta, Indonesia in 2008 by a formal agreement among leaders of 16 countries in the East Asian region to conduct research activities and make policy recommendations for further economic integration in East Asia, demonstrating much diversity and inclusion in the leadership. According to the 2019 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report, ERIA ranked the 13th among the 2019 Top International Economic Policy Think Tanks and the 22nd in the 2019 Best Think Tank Network. ERIA has also actively participated in the T20 summits and submitted 5 policy briefs in total, focusing on “Deepening Economic Integration”, ”Narrowing Development Gaps”, and “Sustainable Development”.
Russia
Russia is located on the continent of Eurasia bordering the Arctic Ocean and extending into Europe. Russian is an official language spoken by 85.7% of the population. Other languages include Tatar
(3.2%), Chechen (1%), and others (10.1%)82. According to the Go To Index of 2019, there are 215 think tanks and civil society programs in the country. Following institutions have been ranked as Top Think Tanks Worldwide: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Moscow Center, Institute of World
82 The World Fact Book, CIA
32 Economy and International Relations (IMEMO), and Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO).
While think tanks in the US are primarily non-profit organizations created to influence public policies, Russia’s policy making is centralized. The President's administration is responsible for the governance of foreign policy alone with the lower parliament (Duma) 83. There are three distinct types of Russian think tanks: university-affiliated, state-sponsored, and private institutions. MGIMO and IMEMO serve as examples of academic think tanks. MGIMO conducts foreign policy research for the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA) has hosted the T20 summit in Moscow in 2013. Advisory board was represented by a diverse collection of global think tanks (Mexico, Belgium, UK, India, Korea, Germany, Australia, South Africa, China, Japan, Indonesia, Turkey, Canada, and the US). Even though there were a variety of countries that participated in the advisory board, it lacked gender representation.
Faculty of Communications, Media and Design, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Gaidar Institute for Economic Policy, Higher School of Economics (HSE), Institute for Contemporary development, New Economic School, Skolkovo Institute for Emerging Markets Studies, Valdai Discussion Club, and other Russian think tanks have submitted a number of T20 policy briefs over the years. According to the G20 Insights, the vast majority of participants were academic think tanks followed by the private and state-run institutions.
Following think tanks should be considered to join an international advisory board to represent Russia: Council on Foreign and Defence Policy (SVOP), Gaidar Institute for Economic Policy (IEP), and Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Moscow Center (Russia). These nominees will represent 3 primary types of Russian think tanks: state, academic, and private, which will ensure the diversity of policy topics and points of view.
Mexico Mexico is the second most populated country in North America behind the United States, and the only country in North America with Spanish as its official language. In addition to Spanish (which 98.4%
83https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/in-depth-research-reports/report/thinking-foreign-policy-in-russia- think-tanks-and-grand-narratives/
33 of the population speaks) there are several indigenous languages spoken in Mexico by the Mayan,
Quechua, and other regional populations.84 Mexico has dealt with a number of developmental, political, and economic challenges over the past several decades, with the most recent issues being the mass migration from the Northern Triangle (Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador) and the trade conflict with the United States over the new North American trade agreement, the USMCA. In the past 25 years, Mexico has experienced very low rates of economic growth, with a less than 1% increase per-capita annually, and the Mexican government has been hindered in its ability to address key issues such as inequality, health care, education, and poverty. Mexico has a long and troubled history with drug trafficking, with the war on drugs being officially declared in 2006 by President Felipe Calderón perpetuating the cycle of violence and disappearances that has sucked valuable resources from
Mexico.85 These economic, political, and social issues are the target of much of the work coming from Mexican think tanks, many of which focus primarily on domestic issues. Mexico contains 86 think tanks and civil society programs, making it the country with the 14th highest number of think tanks in the world, coming behind Canada and the United States within its region of North America. Of these 86 think tanks, three are ranked within the top thinks tanks in the world by the TTCSP Go To Index: The Mexican Council on Foreign Relations (COMEXI), México Evlaúa Centro de Análisis de Políticas Públicas y CIDAC, and Fundar, Centro de Análisis e Investigación. These three think tanks also head the ranking of think tanks within Mexico.86 Two additional think tanks, the Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas (CIDE) and the Ethos Public Policy Lab, are also highly ranked and regarded within Mexico but are not included in the top global think tanks list. Think tanks are important within the Mexican political sphere, as evidenced by COMEXI’s influence on the 2019 trade negotiations between Mexico and the United States, but are also criticized within the Mexican public as being quick to comment and analyze but unable to affect concrete change within the Mexican government.87 Within the context of the G20 and T20, Mexico played an important role in the establishment of the T20 but think tanks have shown little engagement in recent years. Mexico was the host of the 2012 G20 summit in Los Cabos, a summit in which the presidency officially established and recognized the
T20 as an engagement group for the G20.88 The first T20 meeting was spearheaded by COMEXI in coordination with the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) in Canada, two think tanks
84 CIA World Factbook 85 https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/12/opinion/contributors/lopez-obrador-mexico-trump.html 86https://www.mexicoevalua.org/mexico-evalua-fue-reconocido-mejor-think-tank-en-investigacion-politicas-publicas- del-pais/ 87 https://www.elfinanciero.com.mx/opinion/carlos-mota/la-inutilidad-de-los-think-tanks-en-mexico 88https://www.boell.de/sites/default/files/uploads/2016/12/g20_- _the_fundamentals_4_the_solar_system_of_g20_-_engagement_groups.pdf
34 that were linked by Andrés Rosental, a senior fellow at CIGI and the founder of COMEXI. This first T20 summit was held prior to the G20 leaders summit and brought together 17 think tanks from around the world.89 In the first summit in 2012 and the next summit a year later, COMEXI representatives were advisors on the T20 advisory board, but no Mexican think tanks have participated in advisory boards since 2013. In the years since, the T20 has evolved from a small meeting of think tank leaders to a large network of global think tanks and a diverse range of task forces, and with the evolution of the T20 it appears as though Mexican think tank engagement has waned. According to the online database of policy recommendations from G20 Insights, an effort from the Global Solutions Initiative that contains 308 documents, few Mexican think tanks have contributed to policy briefs within the last few years. There are no contributions from COMEXI, with only two from México Evalúa and one from CIDE within the total of 5 attributed to Mexican think tanks. The policy briefs from the two organizations are all under the Social Cohesion and the State task force, which aligns closely with the primary research areas of the two institutions. México Evalúa is ranked second among Mexican think tanks and is an official partner of the Global Solutions Initiative with research focused on the monitoring and evaluation of domestic government processes and the improvement of such processes. Located in Mexico City, the organization is headed by president Luis Rubio and includes a staff diverse in age, gender, and expertise.90 México Evalúa and CIDAC (Centro de Investigación para el Desarrollo), another prominent think tank in Mexico, began their process of integration in 2017 with the goal of strengthening their institutional processes and pooling their intellectual and economic resources to strengthen their collective impact.91 CIDE is ranked fourth among Mexican think tanks and has engaged with the T20 in past policy recommendation contributions. The institution is equal parts research and education, with a diverse group of research professionals and several postgraduate programs focusing on economics, politics, international relations, and justice. The institution is a nonprofit and is publicly funded under the coordination of the National Council of Science and Technology. It has two campuses located in Mexico City and Aguascalientes, and is directed by Heriberto Díaz Vázquez. CIDE places an emphasis on the international exchange of ideas and includes many international researchers on its staff.92 Given the perceived lack of engagement from Mexican think tanks in general, leading think tanks within the country must take the initiative to increase the influence of Mexican think tanks on the global stage. Having been the think tank to coordinate the first meeting of the T20, and as a foreign policy think
89 https://doc-research.org/2018/12/twilight-hegemony-t20-defensive-re-imagining-global-order/ 90 https://www.mexicoevalua.org/ 91 http://cidac.org/ 92 https://www.cide.edu/nosotros/cide-internacional/
35 tank that is also the top-ranked think tank in Mexico, it would be fitting for the Mexican Council on Foreign Relations (COMEXI) to participate in the international advisory board. In addition to COMEXI I would nominate two other think tanks, México Evalúa and the Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas (CIDE), due to their high standing within the Mexican think tank community as well as their recent history of engagement with the T20. These three institutions offer a wide range of policy expertise in both domestic and international affairs, making them valuable additions to an international advisory board for the T20.
South Korea The Republic of Korea is a country in the East Asian region with a population of 51.64 million. The official language is Korean. According to data collected by TTCSP, South Korea is home to 60 think tanks. Top think tanks include Korea Development Institute (KDI), Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP), and Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security (IFANS). In November 2010, the Republic of Korea hosted the fifth G20 summit in Seoul to discuss the global financial system and the world economy with the theme “Shared Growth Beyond Crisis.” It did not host a T20 summit as the engagement group was not created until 2012. Nonetheless, Wonhyuk Lim of Korean Development Institute served on the advisory board for the 2012 T20 Summit in Mexico. In 2013, Sungmin Kim of Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology and Sung Jin Kang of Korea University served on the advisory board for the T20 Summit in Russia. After 2013, however, Korean think tanks have not served on any T20’s advisory board nor as a co-chair of a task force. South Korea has submitted only 2 of the 145 policy recommendations from Asia, the second highest region for G20 policy recommendation participation. Both policy recommendations featured on the G20 Insights website were submitted to the 2019 T20 Summit hosted by Japan. The first policy brief titled “Work Capacity and Socially Sustainable Public Pension System in Aging Societies” was submitted by three researchers from Korea Development Institute for the Migration and Young Societies policy area. The second policy brief on Women’s Economic Empowerment for the G20 Support for SDGs and Development Cooperation policy area was a joint project by researchers from multiple countries including Eun Kyung Kim from Korean Women’s Development Institute, a government research think tank under the Prime Minister’s Office of South Korea. South Korea will likely increase engagement when it hosts a T20 summit after 2025. The strongest candidate seems to be Korea Development Institute, a top think tank that sent 16 staff members to the 2020 T20 Inception Conference in Riyadh in January.
36 Saudi Arabia The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a country located in the heart of the Arabian Peninsula, with a population consisting of 33.7 million. The official language is Modern Standard Arabic, although the population speaks either the Gulf, Nadji, or Hizaji dialects. Per the 2019 TTCSP database, Saudi is home to only 10 think tanks, the most highly ranked being the International Institute for Iranian Studies in Riyadh, an independent, non-government affiliated think tank. Most think tanks in Saudi Arabia are either government affiliated or autonomous and independent. However, this think tank is not a part of the T20 force. The co-leading institutions for the 2020 T20 summit are the King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center (KAPSARC), and the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies (KFCRIS). Per the names, both are affiliated with the Saudi government, specifically the monarch. Saudi Arabia’s presidency is over the 2020 G20 summit, being the first time that the kingdom has ever held this position. The KAPSARC organization has quite a bit of diversity spanning multiple nationalities in its leadership and board of trustees, both Saudi and non-Saudi alike. However, this board is heavily involved with US universities, the Saudi royal family and government, and a variety of other think tanks across the country and world. They have partnerships with organizations across Saudi, but also in Bahrain, China, and the United States. They focus mainly on global energy economics, including creating a path towards sustainability and green energy use. The second think tank, KFCRIS only seems to have Saudi citizens in its higher-ranking positions. Their leadership consists of individuals in the royal family, so their work is inherently intertwined with the Saudi government. The research consists of four main areas, those being socioeconomics, Asian studies, African studies, and cultural studies of various types. Both organizations are based in Riyadh, so their relationship with the other think tanks and global partners can be easily accessed due to their location in the capital. For the G20 in Japan, only KAPSARC submitted a policy recommendation titled “Potential of
Various Renewable Energy and its Introduction Policy in Southeast Asia”93alongside Japanese and Indian think tanks and institutions. Other than that, there has been little to no heavy involvement in the G20 summit from the Saudi monarchy. Yet with their presidency in 2020, it is estimated that Saudi Arabia will heavily increase its involvement in the entire G20 summit process once this year ends. The most qualified think tank to be a part of the T20 advisory board is definitely KAPSARC, and their involvement in this year’s G20/T20 will be a good indicator of their participation in the future.
93 https://www.g20-insights.org/think_tanks/institute-for-global-environmental-strategies-iges/
37 European Union The European Union (EU) is a political and economic union of 27 member states that are primarily located in Europe. They have an estimated total of 447 million people and there are 24 official languages, with multiple regional and minority languages.94 The EU has an internal single market, a monetary union, a shared system of laws and policies.95 According to the 2019 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report, there are 2219 think tanks in Europe with Germany, France, and Italy having the highest number of think tanks in the EU. Think tanks in Europe are well-renowned with two of the top five non- US think tanks are in the European Union - Bruegel in Belgium and French Institute of International Relations in France. The European Parliament has a positive relationship with the think tanks in the EU and utilizes their research and recommendations to shape their agenda. For example, in July 2020 the European Parliament released a briefing titled “Coronavirus: An uncertain future” where they referenced
18 different European think tanks that have conducted research on the COVID-19 outbreak.96 Previous briefings collated by the European Parliament that utilize the research of European think tanks have been on International Trade, Climate Change, and European economic reform.
EU member states have hosted the G20 summit three times, with the United Kingdom (when it was an EU member state) hosting it in 2009, France hosting it in 2011, and Germany in 2017. In addition, Italy is scheduled to host the G20 in 2021. Also, the T20 was hosted in Berlin in 2017. The European Parliament and the Euro Mediterranean Network for Economic Studies (EMNES) are both EU organizations that have contributed to the G20 Insights with the European Parliament submitting 2 briefings and the EMNES submitting one briefing.
It is somewhat complicated to recommend think tanks to the advisory board on behalf of the EU because it is difficult to represent such a wide and diverse region. Therefore representatives from the European Parliament and EMNES would be useful because of their continuing connection with the G20 and T20 and their ability to accurately represent the diverse member states of the EU. In addition, there are several other institutions such as the European University Institute that have also contributed to the G20 who would also positively contribute to the advisory board.
94 European Commission - European Commission. 2020. Press Corner. [online] Available at:
38
Underrepresented Regions
Africa
African continent is a global region with a diverse political and social history. There are 55 countries in Africa, but only South Africa has a seat in the G20 and T20. There were various attempts to include other African voices into G20/T20 discussions in response to the critique of the institutional exclusivity and selective nature of membership. African Global Partnership Platform (AGPP) was created in effort to align regional policy issues and global development, but according to the research AGPP hasn’t had a second plenary meeting since it was established in 201597. Another notable attempt to include Africa into the transnational policy making process was the establishment of the T20 Africa Standing Group (T20 ASG) in 2017 during a G20 Summit in Germany.
97 Mabera, Faith. "Africa and the G20: A Relational View of African Agency in Global Governance." South African Journal of International Affairs 26.4 (2019): 583-99. Print.
39 T20 ASG was created to inform G20 about relevant policy issues and monitor policy application in the region98. One of the primary goals of the working group was to conduct research related to the African Union Agenda of 2063 and the Africa Sustainable Development Goals of 2030 (Africa SDG). The African Union (AU) was established in 2002. AU aims to create a unified vision of Africa free of remaining colonialism and apartheid, advance unity of African nations, promote cooperation and independence, and ensure international collaboration99. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is an important part of the AU vision regionally and on the global arena. Africa’s SDGs correlate with the worldwide agenda on 17 development areas: no poverty, zero hunger, good health and well-being, gender equality, quality education, clean water and sanitation, climate action and others 100. T20 ASG includes 30 think tanks. It was initiated by the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA) and the Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW). SAIIA currently heads the initiative as a think tank of one of G20 countries and active participant in T20 activities. G20 Compact with Africa was launched in the same year (2017) to aid with Africa’s development goals. This is a collaboration between the Africa development bank, IMF and the World Bank aimed to foster foreign investment into the countries within the region. Following countries have joined the initiative: Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Morocco, Rwanda,
Senegal, Togo and Tunisia 101. Participating nations conduct self-assessment of their progress on the commitments. External monitoring is done by the G20 Africa Advisory Group. Even though G20/T20 makes an effort to include Africa into the relevant policy discussions, many countries are still underrepresented and their voice is not heard.
Middle East and North Africa
The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region holds 507 think tanks, according to data collected by TTCSP in December 2018, and has the least number of think tanks compared to other regions. The MENA region includes the following 21 countries: Israel (69), Iran (64), Turkey (48), Egypt (39), Palestine (36), Iraq (32), Jordan (28), Lebanon (28), Yemen (27), Tunisia (21), Kuwait (16), Morocco (15), Qatar (15), United Arab Emirates (15), Bahrain (13), Saudi Arabia (10), Syria (10), Algeria (9), Cyprus (6), Libya (3), and Oman (3) (in order of most to least number of think tanks in the country).
98 Mabera, Faith. "Africa and the G20: A Relational View of African Agency in Global Governance." South African Journal of International Affairs 26.4 (2019): 583-99. Print. 99 African Union, 2002. 100 https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/ 101 Global Economic Governance Africa, 2018
40 Saudi Arabia and Turkey are the only G20 countries in the MENA region. Turkey hosted the first G20 summit in the MENA region in 2015. The T20 summit was hosted by the Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey (TEPAV). The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will host the second G20 summit in the MENA region in November 2020. The T20 summit in October 2020 will be co-hosted by Saudi Arabia’s leading think tanks Kingdom Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center (KAPSARC) and King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies (KFCRIS). While the summits were scheduled to take place in Riyadh, the capital city of Saudi Arabia, the COVID-19 pandemic will likely cause the meetings to take place virtually. Several have expressed concerns for legitimizing the Kingdom’s leadership over civil society through their presidency while they continue to lock up independent activists and only appoint government affiliated institutions. In January 2020, leading NGOs including Amnesty International, CIVICUS, and Transparency International chose to boycott a C20 meeting being led by
King Khalid Foundation in Riyadh over strong concerns of limited transparency and inclusion.102 The official theme for the G20 Saudi Arabia summit is “Realizing Opportunities of the 21st Century for All,” and the Saudi Arabia presidency has strongly advocated for the expansion of their tourism industry. However, the COVID-19 pandemic will likely take over the topic of all discussions and many regionally and nationally specific issues to be addressed may be placed on hold.
Asia
Asia has more than half of the world’s population of more than eight billion and its share will increase as it has some of the more rapidly growing populations. The Asian continent has 48 countries, with seven members in the G20: China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, and Turkey. South Korea was the first Asian country who hosted the G20 summit in Seoul, 2010. In the following years, Turkey, Japan and China hosted the G20 summit and the T20 summit in 2015 (Antalya), 2016 (Hangzhou and Beijing), and 2019 (Osaka and Tokyo). Saudi Arabia is going to host the G20 and T20 summits in 2020, and India will take the role in 2022. Meanwhile, Indonesia is actively preparing for the hosting right of G20 in 2023. The global economic gravity is moving to Asia. By 2020, Asia’s economies as defined by the United Nations and measured in terms of “purchasing power parity (PPP)” will be larger than the rest of the world. A 2011 report released by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) predicted that large Asian economies such as China and India would play a more important role in global economic governance in the future. The report claimed that the rise of emerging market economies heralded a new world order, in
102 https://www.democracywithoutborders.org/12634/civil-society-groups-boycott-g20-summit-in-saudi- arabia/
41 which the G20 would become the global economic steering committee. The ADB furthermore noted that Asian countries had led the global recovery following the late-2000s recession. It predicted that the region would have a greater presence on the global stage, shaping the G20's agenda for balanced and sustainable growth through strengthening intraregional trade and stimulating domestic demand.
Central and South America
Central and South America is composed of 37 countries and houses a total of 1,023 think tanks,
12.4% of the world total.103 The region is a largely underrepresented group of countries within the T20, with Argentina and Brazil being the only G20 countries within the region. Engagement with the T20 from non-G20 countries is low; according to G20 Insights, there are only 7 policy brief contributions between the top think tanks in non-G20 Central and South American countries that are in consideration for the new international advisory board. The one T20 summit held within the region was the 2018 summit held in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The summit was hosted by two Argentine think tanks: the Consejo Argentino para las Relaciones Internacionales (CARI) and the Centro de Implementación de Políticas Públicas para la Equidad y el Crecimiento (CIPPEC), who compiled a comparatively diverse advisory board when judged against other summit years. According to the G20 Research Group, the 2018 Buenos Aires summit had a
24%104 partial or complete match rate with G20 leaders commitments, which comes below the 25% match rate from the 2017 Hamburg summit and the 46% match rate from the 2019 Osaka summit.105 The Buenos Aires T20 communiqué emphasized the need for improvements to existing international organizations like the World Trade Organization and an overall increase in commitment to multilateralism and cooperation. Apart from Argentina and Brazil, the rest of the region has little engagement with the T20 process. This involvement was increased slightly in the 2018 Argentina summit, in which think tanks from countries such as Colombia, Bolivia, Panama and Chile contributed to a few policy briefs, but data from the 2019 Osaka summit shows that this was not to last, as these countries did not engage with the T20 summit the following year.
103 2019 Go To Index 104 http://www.g20.utoronto.ca/analysis/t20-2018-recommendations-realized.html 105 http://www.g20.utoronto.ca/analysis/t20-2019-recommendations-realized.html
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T20 Advisory Board
For every T20 summit, an advisory board is chosen by the host think tank of the host country. Although leadership positions are filled by members of the host think tanks and directors of represented think tanks, every summit also has executives from other think tanks to oversee as a “holistic” advisory board. This is innately biased as it is chosen by the host think tank who inherits even implicit bias from being from the host nation. This allows for influential members from a variety of think tanks as well as independent organizations for inclusivity. Some years, such as Mexico 2012 or Russia 2013, had nearly 25 representatives from various countries with no clear bias. However, since the diversity and inclusion of international advisory boards is not consistently monitored, some years such as Turkey 2015 can house a unilateral advisory board of all Turkish representatives, allowing for a less holistic conversation and direction. This contradicts good governance as it is not inclusive for all nations represented at the summit, thus even if diverse, not holistically participatory. Additionally, the inconsistency in advisory boards is not representative and consistent with the diversity and consensus of the summit’s demographic. The advisory boards have been inconsistent with hopes of ensuring diversity and inclusion, thus with guidelines accepted amongst all T20 contributors and nations, this representation can be repeated despite the host nation or think tanks.
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Graphic representation of T20 international advisory boards from 2012-2020
The proposed international advisory board will include all think tank representatives from all G20 countries and a number of non-G20 countries from underrepresented regions. This advisory board will be a permanent structure to the T20 to ensure proper oversight, continuity of each summit and good governance. The advisory board will facilitate the T20 process and work closely with the T20 host think tanks each year without diminishing the responsibilities from T20 host think tanks. The following metrics were considered when determining if an institution should be nominated for this new advisory board: 2019 Global Go To Think Tank ranking, total number of policy briefs submitted to the G20 according to G20 Insights, diversity regarding number of nationalities represented by the institution’s board, G20 news and research on website, T20 news and research on website, available G20/T20 experts and their nationality
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About the G20/T20 Team
Julia Lammers is a sophomore at the University of Pennsylvania studying International Relations with a concentration in Globalization. She is a dual-citizen of the United States and Japan with native fluency in both languages and intermediate-level proficiency in Korean and French. Julia joined the Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program in September 2019 as a research intern for the Asia Pacific Think Tank Summit team. In January 2020, she was appointed as Project Lead for the G20/T20 research team. This summer, she has continued her work as Project Lead for both the G20/T20 team and the Middle East North Africa data collection team.
Danning Chen is a second-year Graduate Student at the University of Pennsylvania studying Social Policy and Data Analytics. Her main areas of study are in Public Health, Housing Policy, Demographic Studies, and International Development. Her undergraduate studies in Diplomacy and International Relations contribute a lot to her interest and understanding of global issues and politics. Besides working as a research intern for TTCSP, she is also a Policy Fellow at Towards Unity For Health (TUFH). She also works as the Research Assistant and Teaching Assistant for several projects on global health policy and child welfare at the School of Social Policy & Practice of the University of Pennsylvania.
45 Alec Escobar is a senior at the University of Pennsylvania studying Philosophy, Politics, and Economics with a minor in Hispanic studies in the College of Arts and Sciences. His primary fields of interest include economic development, international trade, and the role of international organizations as they pertain to underdeveloped countries and regions. He began working with the Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program in the summer of 2020. Prior to TTCSP, he worked as an intern for the Washington International Trade Association in Washington, D.C. and conducted academic research at Penn under a PURM grant. He was also a historical memory fellow at the CASA study abroad program in Barcelona in the fall semester of 2019 and maintains conversational ability in Spanish.
Nihal Kotragouda is a junior undergraduate candidate at the University of Pennsylvania studying Political Science with a specialization in International Relations. Specifically, his main areas of focus are South Asia diplomacy as well as the function of international institutions. His political drive is fueled by his experience as a first-generation immigrant to the United States, shaping his curiosity for international affairs, social policy, and the web of the international economy. Alongside his research efforts for TTCSP, Nihal has been a part of the Wharton Undergraduate Healthcare Club working with the consulting team to directly interact with policy and economic incentives for local pharmaceutical companies.
Natasha Porter is a recent graduate of Bryn Mawr College, graduating in May 2020 with a B.A. Political Science. Her main academic interests are International Relations and Women's and Gender Studies. She joined the Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program (TTCSP) internship in Fall 2019 and was part of the Europe Team planning the 2020 European Think Tank Summit in Fall 2019 and Spring 2020. In the Summer of 2020 she is leading the Europe Summit team and working on the North America Data Collection Team and the G20/T20 Team. Outside of TTCSP, she has also worked as a research assistant, where she researched feminist activism and gender-based violence in Southern Africa, as well as immigration in the Philadelphia-area. In Summer 2019, she interned for PennEnvironment where she researched state-level environmental policy and lobbied for clean water legislation in Pennsylvania. After graduation, she hopes to gain experience in International Affairs before pursuing a Graduate Degree in International Relations.
Gabriella Rabito is a sophomore at the University of Pennsylvania College of Arts and Sciences studying International Relations and History with a minor in American Public Policy from the Wharton School. Her primary interests include international security, crisis de-escalation and human rights, the latter specifically regarding socioeconomically disadvantaged populations. She is a Perry World House Student Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania's institute for international affairs and global engagement. She has previously worked on the Borders and Boundaries Project at the Perry World House where she conducted geo-spatial analysis on international border crossings.
Emad Shahnoushi is a junior at Columbia University studying Economics and Middle Eastern Studies. His primary focus is on the Middle East and socioeconomic issues of Southwest Asia and Northern Africa. As an Iranian-American, Emad has first-hand experience with the nuances of the Middle East, having lived in Iran and The United States. As the recipient of the Presidential Global Fellowship Emad spent the summer of 2019 in Jordan and Tunisia, learning Arabic and engaging with a variety of topics pertinent to each country and conducting interviews with local activists, politicians, and other government
46 officials. In the winter of 2020, Emad received the Kraft Global Fellowship where he traveled to Turkey to conduct research on the religious and ethnic groups in the country, meeting with the Armenian and Ecumenical Patriarchs, in addition to the Grand Rabbi of Constantinople and the Vice Mufti of Istanbul. In addition to the G20/T20 team, Emad is also a member of the Middle East and North Africa Mapping and Data Collection teams.
Anna Stambakio is a dual degree student of Master of Public Health program and Master of Environmental Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. Born in Russia and raised in Belarus, she attended International Sakharov Environmental University (ISEU) in Minsk, Belarus. While in ISEU, she studied a broad range of topics related to the interaction between humanity and the environment with a focus on environmental health. The education was completed at Temple University in Philadelphia where she received a Bachelor of Science degree in Public Health in 2013. After graduating from Temple University, she was employed by the University of Pennsylvania where she gained experience as a research coordinator and received a skill set necessary to be a successful professional in the field of public health and environmental science. She is currently a project manager at the Division of Urology at the University of Pennsylvania and a site manager for the National Institute of Health PLUS Consortium.
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