Hi everyone,Just thinking about moving to this think-tank in Washington. Has anyone heard about it? Opinions?Thanks a lot

Isn;t "think tank in Washington" a euphamism for lobbying?

Not necessarily.That is the case often in Europe, where think-tanks need to ascribe themselves to a political party to sustain themselves financially. This is the case with some US think tanks, but not all of them. If you have time, do check their webpage: www.wri.org.

Half right, but lobbying and party political alignment are very different things. Lobbyists lobby across political lines in whichever way best suits the special interest group that pays them. Lobbying is proportionally a much bigger industry in the US, so financially supports more think tanks. In Europe, think tanks often serve to explore less-mainstream policy alternatives without factionalising already-fragmented parties (cf. the US' two broad parties) through intra-party debate.

J BI do agree with you up to a point. When you state "Lobbyists lobby across political lines in whichever way best suits the special interest group that pays them" I think you infer (correct me if I misunderstood you) that the group which financially supports the think tank is homogeneous. This is sometimes true. However, some think tanks are respected for the work they do. They do lobby, of course, but they do not necessarily align with the views of their supporters because 1. Sometimes the funding is not the the think tank itself but to a particular project instead; and 2. Sometimes there are just too many people and organizations who fund the think tank.This was in fact something I did check out before starting the post and I was satisfied with what I saw. If you are interested, do check out WRI donors list (http://www.wri.org/partners/contrib_financial.cfm)I do believe that sometimes to be independent from special interest groups can be a very worthy asset for a think tank (easier said than done, of course)