Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) has been ranked 97th among the world’s best think tanks in 2014, scaling up two notches from 2013, according to a new report.
The report styled “The 2014 Global Go To Think Tank Index” was jointly released in more than 25 cities around the world, including Dhaka yesterday.
It was the 7th annual report of the think tank rankings prepared by the Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program (TTCSP), an institute of the University of Pennsylvania, which conducts research on the role policy the institutes play in governments and civil societies around the world.
The TTCSP ranks top 150 global think tanks in four general categories such such as top think tanks in the world, top think tanks in region and top think tanks in other areas.
BIDS director general Mustafa K Mujeri launched the report at the BIDS auditorium for the first time in Bangladesh.
BIDS is an autonomous public multi-disciplinary organisation in the country which conducts policy-oriented research on development issues.
Mujeri said BIDS performed relatively well as a think-tank. “But we need to do more to go forward further.”
Speaking at the launching ceremony, BIDS researcher Kazi Shahabuddin said economists present their view but it is upto policymakers to implement it.
But in most cases, it has been noticed that the government accepted the views which were politically convenient and people in opposition used the issues which were convenient to mobilise public opinion in favour of them.
The US-based Brookings Institution is the world’s No.1 think tank, followed by the UK’s Chatham House, USA’s Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and Centre for Strategic and International Studies.
In terms of top think tanks in Southeast Asia and the Pacific, BIDS was ranked 17th, three notches down from 2013, when it was 15th.
In this category, Australia’s think tank Australian Institute for International Affairs is top on the list, followed by Indonesia’s Centre for Strategic and International Studies, New Zealand’s Centre for Strategic Studies and Singapore’s Singapore Institute of International Affairs.
BIDS is 24th among top international development think tanks. In 2013 it was 25th.
Under this category, USA’s Brookings Institution became the best, followed by the UK’s Chatham House, UK’s Overseas Development Institute and USA’s Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars.
BIDS is 33rd among the best government affiliated think tanks.
The TTCSP initiated its effort to make rankings of the world’s leading think tanks in 2006 in response to requests from donors, government officials, journalists and scholars.