Hudson Institute

The Hudson Institute is a US think tank that "challenges conventional thinking and helps manage strategic transitions to the future through interdisciplinary and collaborative studies in defense, international relations, economics, culture, science, technology, and law." While it is officially non-partisan, it tends to be more associated with American conservatism and the U.S. Republican Party, but, regardless of ideology, it emphasizes futures studies rather than immediate issues of partisan interest.

The Institute was founded, in 1961, by the futurist Herman Kahn, who had been at the RAND Corporation. The original location was in Croton-on-Hudson, New York, which provided the name.

Its public statements emphasize "In the 1970s, Hudson’s scholars helped turn the world away from the no-growth policies of the Club of Rome; in the early 1990s, we helped the newly-liberated Baltic nations become booming market economies; at home, we helped write the pioneering Wisconsin welfare reform law that became the model for successful national welfare reform in the mid-1990s. Today, as part of our research agenda, we are developing programs of political and economic reform to transform the Muslim world."

Research areas

Hudson is organized into Centers:

• American Common Culture
• Bradley Center for Philanthropy & Civic Renewal
• Economic Policy Studies
• Employment Policy
• Eurasian Policy
• European Studies
• Political-Military Analysis
• Global Food Issues
• Global Prosperity
• Housing & Financial Markets
• Islam, Democracy and the Future of the Muslim World
• Latin American Studies
• Middle East Policy
• National Security Strategies
• Religious Freedom
• Science in Public Policy

Funding

RightWeb cites no-longer-online material from the Center for Media Transparency about Hudson's funding. "The Hudson Institute received close to $25 million between 1987 and 2003 in foundation, corporate, and government grants, according to Media Transparency and the Capital Research Center. In 2005, the Sarah Scaife Foundation gave Hudson $150,000 for projects, and the Shelby Cullom Davis Foundation gave $75,000 "toward general support for the U.S., China, Russia, and Iran Diplomacy and Security project, and the work of Russian scholar and writer Dr. Andrei Piontkovsky," according to Media Transparency. In 2004, the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation gave Hudson hundreds of thousands for various projects. Other top Hudson funders have included John M. Olin Foundation, Smith Richardson Foundation, Pew Foundations, the Donner Foundation, and the U.S. Department of Justice.