Institute for Policy Studies
Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) is a non-profit think-tank for progressive, leftist, or liberal causes based in Washington, D.C. It includes roughly fifteen projects across national and international social movements; including the peace movement, international human rights, and the environment.
History
The organization was founded in 1963 with a stated mandate to provide "an independent center of research and education on public policy problems in Washington."
The Institute sponsors an annual awards ceremony to honor the memories of two employees that were murdered in 1976 by operatives of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. The Letelier-Moffitt human rights awards are named for Chilean exile Orlando Letelier, a former member of Salvador Allende's cabinet and Ronni Karpen Moffitt, who was a junior IPS staffer.
IPS's current director is John Cavanagh.
The institute was founded in 1963 by two former aides to Kennedy administration advisers: Marcus Raskin, aide to McGeorge Bundy, and Richard Barnet, aide to John J. McCloy. Start-up funding was secured from the Sears heir, Philip Stern, and banker, James Warburg.
On September 21, 1976, a car bombing killed Chilean diplomat Orlando Letelier and American Ronni Karpen Moffitt. Letelier and Moffitt were colleagues at the Institute for Policy Studies, where Letelier had become one of the most outspoken critics of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. Moffitt was a 25-year-old fundraiser who ran a "Music Carryout" program that made musical instruments accessible to poor communities. A massive FBI investigation traced the crime to the highest levels of Pinochet's regime. The Institute for Policy Studies has continued to host an annual human rights award in the names of Letelier and Moffitt to honor these fallen colleagues while celebrating new heroes of the human rights movement from the United States and elsewhere in the Americas. The award recepients receive the Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Award.
IPS has played key roles in the civil rights and anti-war movements in the 1960s, the women's and environmental movements in the 1970s, the anti-apartheid and anti-intervention movements in the 1980s, and the fair trade and environmental justice movements of the 1990s and 2000s. In its attention to the role of multinational corporations, it was also an early critic of what has come to be called globalization.
Criticism
The Right frequently criticizes IPS. Sidney Blumenthal once noted that "Ironically, as IPS has declined in Washington influence, its stature has grown in conservative demonology."
Current list of fellows, associate fellows, and research fellows
- Noam Chomsky
- Sarah Anderson
- Maude Barlow
- Phyllis Bennis
- Steve Cobble
- Karen Dolan
- Stacie Jonas
- Saul Landau
- Erik Leaver
- Nadia Martinez
- Miriam Pemberton
- Gareth Porter
- Marcus Raskin
- Sanho Tree
- Daphne Wysham
- Antonia Juhasz
References
- The Left-Leaning Think Tank by Peter Kovler, from Change magazine
- Richard Barnet, IPS, and early critiques of globalization by Abe DeJamminen, United for Peace of Pierce County
External links
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