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Approaching 50, CSIS expands focus to face modern challenges
The think tank was established under Soeharto’s New Order regime, at a time when Indonesia’s leadership was determined to govern technocratically.
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Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) cofounder Jusuf Wanandi (left) and painter I Wayan Karja look at a painting of a volcano at the artist’s Cosmic Energy exhibition in Jakarta in 2018. CSIS has begun to focus more on climate change and natural disasters, executive director Philips J. Vermonte has said. (JP/Seto Wardhana)
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or over half of its five-decade history, the Jakarta-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) offered insight and analysis to Indonesian policymakers under Soeharto’s New Order regime.
From working behind the scenes in support of the country’s political and economic development to growing a platform that nurtured generations of thinkers, CSIS was never far from history-making events.
As it approaches its 50th anniversary, the think tank is expanding its research beyond the traditional challenges of nation building, executive director Philps J. Vermonte said.
The institution was recently recognized again as one of the most influential think tanks in the world, according to the 2020 Global Go To Think Tank Index, which ranked it 12th in foreign policy and international affairs.
The index was published by the Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program at the University of Pennsylvania’s Lauder Institute.
As it has gained more recognition, CSIS has expanded its work to non-traditional challenges, including disaster mitigation and the COVID-19 pandemic response, without losing sight of traditional core issues, Philips said.
“In the past, CSIS was focused only on issues in strategic studies, such as the prevention of war or conflict resolution. But we also saw that [Indonesia] suffered large numbers of casualties from disasters, which is something concrete that we had not really thought about,” he said.
