The Foreign Service Journal, March 2010

M A R C H 2 0 1 0 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 9 A Thoughtful Survey In the University of Pennsylvania’s latest “Global Go-to Think-Tank Rank- ings,” released Jan. 28, the Brookings Institution came in first among more than 6,300 think-tanks evaluated world- wide. The annual report, which began in 2006, places London-based Chat- ham House first among think-tanks outside the U.S. James G. McGann, assistant direc- tor of the university’s International Re- lations Program and director of the university’s Think-Tanks and Civil So- ciety Program, compiled the results from a global survey of 300 scholars and experts. The panel nominated and ranked nearly 400 organizations. “Policymakers in the legislative and executive branches of government throughout the developed and devel- oping world face the common problem of bringing expert knowledge to bear on governmental decision-making,” says McGann. “I am confident that the international experts group and peer nomination and selection process that was constituted for this study has en- abled us to create the most authorita- tive list of high-performance think- tanks in the world.” Here is a sampling of the leading think-tanks for 2009 in various cate- gories: • Brookings Institution (top think- tank in the world) • Fraser Institute (Canada and Mexico) • Chatham House (Western Eu- rope) • Carnegie Moscow Center (East- ern and Central Europe) • Fundación Getulio Vargas (Latin America) • Carnegie Middle East Center (Middle East) • South African Institute of Inter- national Affairs (Southern Africa) • Japan Institute of International Affairs (Asia) A copy of the full report is available for download at www.ony.unu.edu/ . U.S. Iran Policy: Think Twice In early February, on the eve of the 31st anniversary of the Islamic Revo- lution, some voices urging caution and an alternate point of view were heard above the din of rocket-launchings and opposition demonstrations in Iran and the drumbeat of Western advocates of “regime change” and tough, new sanc- tions against Tehran in Washington. The Program on International Pol- icy Attitudes at the University of Mary- land issued the results of a study that shattered several widely held myths. PIPA sought to address the hypotheses that Iranian President Mahmoud Ah- madinejad did not win the June 12 election and that the Iranian people C YBERNOTES 50 Years Ago... O ne may cite three reasons why the conduct of foreign rela- tions has never been and is not today generally regarded in the United States, at least, as a genuine profession. The first is that throughout the greater part of our history foreign relations has, in contrast to the experience of most nations in the world, been essentially of secondary importance to the national interest. Secondly, our professional Foreign Service, developing under the shadow of this strong traditional attitude, has had to struggle against a built-in inferiority complex. We have instinctively felt that we were trying to corner the market on some- thing that any Tom, Dick or Harry could do. This apologetic attitude has been aggravated by the third factor: the difficulty of describing clearly the profes- sional nature of the profession. The conduct of foreign relations cannot be reduced to algebraic formulae or scientifically classifiable symptoms and remedies. —– From “Is the Foreign Service a Profession?” by James K. Penfield, FSJ , March 1960.