Chatham House Director, Dr Robin Niblett says that the world has entered into a dangerous new phase in international relations. In order to mitigate this, think tanks should be more proactive on certain key principles which promote peace and prosperity.
Namely, Dr Niblett noted that today’s world is selfish, but at a time of increasing interdependence. For this reason, think tanks should not only analyzing the rising competition, but also offer technical recommendations that address these challenges.
Is it time once again, for leading international think tanks to adapt a more proactive stance, explicitly promoting the principles that they believe should underpin peace and prosperity?
[smlsubform prepend=”GET THE SAFETY4SEA IN YOUR INBOX!” showname=false emailtxt=”” emailholder=”Enter your email address” showsubmit=true submittxt=”Submit” jsthanks=false thankyou=”Thank you for subscribing to our mailing list”]
Answering this question, Dr Niblett believes that think tanks should not only comment on ‘this dangerous new phase in international relations.’ They should also not just support behind Governments, ‘when policy’s increasingly driven by zero sum interpretations of international affairs.’
In addition, Dr Robin Niblett described five practical steps that think-tanks can take to renew their sense of purpose, during eroding times. These are:
- Double down on core purpose: This will add political debate with analysis, based on facts and expertise, not on opinions and bias;
- Think big: Think Tanks need to offer comprehensive, creative ideas;
- Be a force for positive change: Audiences need to be alive to the opportunities that the global spread of advances in science and technology offer;
- Innovate: There should be more investment in figuring out how sub-state and non-state actors and coalitions can drive positive change;
- Greater diversity of voices in research and policy recommendations.