Transnational Institute
Encyclopedia
Transnational Institute (TNI) is an international think tank
for progressive politics
. It was established in 1973 in Amsterdam
and serves as a network for scholars and activists. Though now independent, it was established as the international programme of the Washington, D.C.
-based Institute for Policy Studies
.
starts as the first director.
People that soon were awarded fellowship in those early days are, amongst others, novelist John Berger
, John Gittings
, Richard Gott
, Ernst Utrecht, and Ambalavaner Sivanandan
In 1974 TNI took part in the international campaign to isolate the military dictatorship of Pinochet in Chile. It held its first conference around the publication, "Lessons from Chile" (find reference), in the aftermath of the military coup. Many exiled Chileans attended, including three former ministers of the Allende government.
1976: Orlando Letelier
former Foreign and Defence Minister of Chile and former Ambassador to the US, was appointed director of TNI.
He began a great effort to promote the New International Economic Order
(NIEO). He also managed to stop the Dutch government loaning $60 million for Chilean industrial development.
On 21 September, 1976 Orlando Letelier, together with Ronni Karpen Moffitt, was assassinated in Washington DC with a car bomb.
Basker Vashee took up the position as director of the Institute.
TNI set to work on boycotting Apartheid in South Africa. They helped social movements find each other and published the research “Black South Africa Explodes” on the uprising in Soweto and “US Arms Deliveries to South Africa; The Italian Connection”.
Its current director is Fiona Dove.
, and private foundations in the United States
and Europe
.
, Praful Bidwai
, Kees Biekart, Jun Borras, Brid Brennan, John Cavanagh, Daniel Chavez, Susan George
, Jochen Hippler, Martin Jelsma, Boris Kagarlitsky, Dot Keet, Edgardo Lander, Kamil Mahdi, Joel Rocamora, David Sogge, Achin Vanaik, Myriam vander Stichele, Howard Wachtel, Hilary Wainwright
, Fred Halliday
, Richard Falk, Michael Shuman, Dan Smith and Basker Vashee.
Think tank
A think tank is an organization that conducts research and engages in advocacy in areas such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, and technology issues. Most think tanks are non-profit organizations, which some countries such as the United States and Canada provide with tax...
for progressive politics
Progressivism
Progressivism is an umbrella term for a political ideology advocating or favoring social, political, and economic reform or changes. Progressivism is often viewed by some conservatives, constitutionalists, and libertarians to be in opposition to conservative or reactionary ideologies.The...
. It was established in 1973 in Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
and serves as a network for scholars and activists. Though now independent, it was established as the international programme of the Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
-based Institute for Policy Studies
Institute for Policy Studies
Institute for Policy Studies is a left-wing think tank based in Washington, D.C..It has been directed by John Cavanagh since 1998- History :...
.
History
1973: The Transnational Institute is established and has her headquarters in the Paulus Potter Street 20 in Amsterdam. On 9 November 1973 Eqbal AhmadEqbal Ahmad
Eqbal Ahmad was a Pakistani writer, journalist, and anti-war activist. He was strongly critical of the Middle East strategy of the United States as well as what he saw as the "twin curse" of nationalism and religious fanaticism in such countries as Pakistan.-Life:Ahmad was born in the village of...
starts as the first director.
People that soon were awarded fellowship in those early days are, amongst others, novelist John Berger
John Berger
John Peter Berger is an English art critic, novelist, painter and author. His novel G. won the 1972 Booker Prize, and his essay on art criticism Ways of Seeing, written as an accompaniment to a BBC series, is often used as a university text.-Education:Born in Hackney, London, England, Berger was...
, John Gittings
John Gittings
John Gittings is a journalist and author who is mainly known for his work on modern China and the Cold War. From 1983 to 2003, he worked at The Guardian as assistant foreign editor and chief foreign leader-writer....
, Richard Gott
Richard Gott
Richard Willoughby Gott is a British journalist and historian, who has written extensively on Latin America...
, Ernst Utrecht, and Ambalavaner Sivanandan
Ambalavaner Sivanandan
Ambalavaner Sivanandan is a Sri Lankan novelist, and director of the Institute of Race Relations, a London-based independent educational charity. His first novel, When Memory Dies, won the 1998 Commonwealth Writers' Prize, best first book, Europe and South Asia...
In 1974 TNI took part in the international campaign to isolate the military dictatorship of Pinochet in Chile. It held its first conference around the publication, "Lessons from Chile" (find reference), in the aftermath of the military coup. Many exiled Chileans attended, including three former ministers of the Allende government.
1976: Orlando Letelier
Orlando Letelier
Marcos Orlando Letelier del Solar was a Chilean economist, Socialist politician and diplomat during the presidency of Socialist President Salvador Allende...
former Foreign and Defence Minister of Chile and former Ambassador to the US, was appointed director of TNI.
He began a great effort to promote the New International Economic Order
New International Economic Order
The New International Economic Order was a set of proposals put forward during the 1970s by some developing countries through the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development to promote their interests by improving their terms of trade, increasing development assistance, developed-country...
(NIEO). He also managed to stop the Dutch government loaning $60 million for Chilean industrial development.
On 21 September, 1976 Orlando Letelier, together with Ronni Karpen Moffitt, was assassinated in Washington DC with a car bomb.
Basker Vashee took up the position as director of the Institute.
TNI set to work on boycotting Apartheid in South Africa. They helped social movements find each other and published the research “Black South Africa Explodes” on the uprising in Soweto and “US Arms Deliveries to South Africa; The Italian Connection”.
Its current director is Fiona Dove.
Funding
TNI receives part of its institutional funding from the Samuel Rubin Foundation (New York). In addition, it is supported on a project basis by a range of funders, including church agencies, peace and environmental organisations, European foreign and development co-operation ministries, the European CommissionEuropean Commission
The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union....
, and private foundations in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
.
Key Issues
TNI programmes engage in a broad range of research, policy advocacy and civil society networking activities. Often in collaboration organisations and networks they work to advance an agenda of economic, social and environmental justice.- The Alternative Regionalisms programme addresses the question of alternative development from the perspective of social movements and regional coalitions of civil society organisations in Africa, Asia and Latin America. It facilitates cross-regional exchanges on a South-South and South-North basis through a series of Peoples’ Dialogues.
- The Drugs and Democracy programme analyses global trends in drugs policy and promotes a pragmatic approach to tackling illegal drugs based on harm reduction principles. Its work on drugs and conflict in the Andean/Amazon region, Afghanistan and Burma forges connections between illicit drugs and wider issues of demilitarisation, democratisation, public health promotion and poverty reduction. These are then reflected in attempts to influence the policy debate at UN and regional decision-making levels.
- The New Politics programme engages with innovations and experimentation by social movements, progressive political parties and governments worldwide. It stimulates new thinking and policy proposals on participatory democracy, political organisation, urban governance and rural democratisation.
- The Environmental Justice project monitors the negative impact of pollution trading upon environmental, social and economic justice, and works to develop community-led responses to it.
- The Militarism and Globalisation project analyses the changing global frameworks for military intervention and the spread of new security infrastructures. Its current focus includes work on defence industrial reorganisation and the accountability of foreign military bases.
- The Water Justice project promotes participatory, public sector water as the most viable means to achieve the goal of water for all. It facilitates the creation of new regional and global networks to promote public-public co-operation in the water sector. TNI also publishes a Public Services yearbook on the impact of privatisation and experiences of public sector reform globally.
Fellows
Mariano Aguirre, Marcos Arruda, Phyllis Bennis, Walden BelloWalden Bello
Walden Bello is a Filipino author, academic, and political analyst. He is a professor of sociology and public administration at the University of the Philippines Diliman, as well as executive director of Focus on the Global South...
, Praful Bidwai
Praful Bidwai
Praful Bidwai is an Indian journalist, political analyst, and activist.-Journalist and columnist:Praful Bidwai is an Leftist political analyst and commentator, a social science researcher, and an activist on issues of peace, global justice, human rights and environmental protection.Bidwai's...
, Kees Biekart, Jun Borras, Brid Brennan, John Cavanagh, Daniel Chavez, Susan George
Susan George (political scientist)
Susan George is a well-known Franco-American political and social scientist, activist and writer on global social justice, Third World poverty, underdevelopment and debt. She is a fellow and president of the board of the Transnational Institute in Amsterdam...
, Jochen Hippler, Martin Jelsma, Boris Kagarlitsky, Dot Keet, Edgardo Lander, Kamil Mahdi, Joel Rocamora, David Sogge, Achin Vanaik, Myriam vander Stichele, Howard Wachtel, Hilary Wainwright
Hilary Wainwright
Hilary Wainwright is a British socialist and feminist, best known for being editor of Red Pepper magazine.-Personal life:Hilary Wainwright's father was the Liberal MP Richard Wainwright, and her brother, Martin, is the Northern Editor of The Guardian, to which she occasionally contributes.She...
Former fellows and contributers
Former fellows include John GittingsJohn Gittings
John Gittings is a journalist and author who is mainly known for his work on modern China and the Cold War. From 1983 to 2003, he worked at The Guardian as assistant foreign editor and chief foreign leader-writer....
, Fred Halliday
Fred Halliday
Frederick Halliday, FBA was an Irish writer and academic specialising in International Relations and the Middle East, with particular reference to the Cold War, Iran, and the Arabian peninsula.-Biography:Born in Dublin, Ireland in 1946 to an English father, businessman Arthur Halliday, and an...
, Richard Falk, Michael Shuman, Dan Smith and Basker Vashee.
Publications
- Loaded Questions: Women in Militaries Wendy Chapkis, published by TNI together with the Institute for Policy Studies, with contributions of Cynthia EnloeCynthia Enloe-Biography:Born in 1938, Cynthia Enloe spent her early life on Long Island in a New York suburb. After completing her undergraduate education at Connecticut College in 1960 , she went on to earn an M.A. in 1963 and a Ph.D...
1981. - Of Common Cloth: Women in the Global Textile Industry, edited by Cynthia EnloeCynthia Enloe-Biography:Born in 1938, Cynthia Enloe spent her early life on Long Island in a New York suburb. After completing her undergraduate education at Connecticut College in 1960 , she went on to earn an M.A. in 1963 and a Ph.D...
with Wendy Chapkis: published by TNI together with the Institute for Policy Studies, 1983. - "Systems Overload: Drug Laws and Prisons in Latin America" - published by TNI together with the Washington Office on Latin AmericaWashington Office on Latin AmericaThe Washington Office on Latin America is an American non-governmental organization whose stated goal is to promote human rights, democracy and social and economic justice in Latin America and the Caribbean....
(WOLA)