[Opinion] Think-Tank Utility

Michael O’Hanlon is one of the columnists who write for Dong-A Ilbo’s “eye on the world” section. He is well known for his acute perspective on the international politics in East Asia. He is the senior fellow of the Brookings Institute, a private non-profit organization created in 1916 with funds raised by American businessmen.

The institute was named after founder Robert Brookings, a businessman in St. Louis. The Brookings Institute is the liberal counterpart of the conservative Hoover Institution and the Heritage Foundation. The think tank, supported by donations and fund yields, independently analyzes issues in international politics, economics and social science, influencing the government’s policy directions.

Japan plans to found a Japanese version of the Brookings Institute with some 20 large companies at the center. Current and former chairmen of Nippon Keidanren, including former Chairman Hiroshi Okuda of Toyota and Chairman Fujio Mitarai of Canon, are initiating the establishment of the institute. Reportedly, they will bring in former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to become chairman or an advisor. It seems that they expect Koizumi to help people-to-people diplomacy like former U.S. Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, as he has free and broad access to national leaders of other countries. They hope to influence the national policies with the voices of the business, while studying trade, currencies, energy, environment, security as well as international politics.

Korean businesses are running various think tanks. The Korea Economic Research Institute is under the Federation of Korean Industries and other research institutes are under large companies, whose study results are as relied upon as state institutes’ research work. Yet, the economic sector has failed to found institutes for dealing with domestic and international politics. As national identity and public value are on a shaky ground and the number of non-economic variables on the economy and the market is increasing, Korean companies should consider establishing institutes like the Brookings Institute and Japan’s international public policy institution.

Heo Seung-ho, Editorial Writer, tigera@donga.com