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Chatham House

Coordinates: 51°30′28″N 0°08′10″W / 51.5077°N 0.1360°W / 51.5077; -0.1360
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For the school in Ramsgate, see Chatham House Grammar School. For the mansion in Virginia, USA, see Chatham Manor.

Chatham House
Formation1920; 104 years ago (1920)
HeadquartersLondon, SW1
Membership3,000+
Websitewww.chathamhouse.org


Chatham House, also known as the Royal Institute of International Affairs, is a not-for-profit and non-governmental organisation based in London whose mission is to analyse and promote the understanding of major international issues and current affairs. It is the originator of the Chatham House Rule.

Role

Drawing upon its members, Chatham House aims to promote debate on significant developments in international affairs and policy responses. Its independent research and analysis on global, regional and country-specific challenges is intended to offer new ideas to decision makers on how these can best be tackled in the near to long term. Chatham House is routinely used as an authority and source of information by media organisations seeking background knowledge or expertise on matters involving major international issues.

Chatham House is membership-based, with a range of membership options for corporations, academic institutions, NGOs, and individuals, including students and under-30s. In addition to corporate members consisting of government departments, large corporations, academic institutions, investment banks, NGOs, energy companies and other organisations, Chatham House's individual members currently include international leaders from business, diplomacy, science, politics and media.[1]

Chatham House Rule

Main article: Chatham House Rule

Chatham House is the origin of the non-attribution rule known as the Chatham House Rule, which provides that attendees of meetings may discuss the content of the meeting in the outside world, but may not discuss who attended or identify what a specific individual said. The Chatham House Rule evolved to facilitate frank and honest discussion on controversial or unpopular issues by speakers who may not have otherwise had the appropriate forum to speak freely. Despite this, most meetings at Chatham House are held on the record, and not under the Chatham House Rule.

Research and Publications

Chatham House research is structured around five thematic programmes, comprising: energy, environment and resources; global economy and finance; global health security; international law; and international security; as well as six regional programmes, covering Africa, the Asia-Pacific region, Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, Russia and Eurasia, and the US and Americas.

Chatham House also contains the Hoffmann Centre for Sustainable Resource Economy, which focuses on the political economy of resource production and consumption.[2]

Speakers

In addition to conducting wide-ranging research, Chatham House hosts high-profile speakers from around the world. Recent speakers include Shinzō Abe, Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf, Saad Hariri, Filipe Nyusi, Barham Salih, Katrín Jakobsdóttir and Ban Ki-moon.[3]

Periodical publications

Chatham House also produces the policy journal International Affairs as well as a bi-monthly magazine, The World Today. The World Today is represented for syndication by Tribune Content Agency, a subsidiary of The Tribune Company.

Chatham House Prize

The Chatham House Prize is an annual award presented to "the person, persons or organization deemed by members of Chatham House to have made the most significant contribution to the improvement of international relations in the previous year".[4]

List of winners

Year Name Country
2005 President Viktor Yushchenko[4]  Ukraine
2006 President Joaquim Chissano[4]  Mozambique
2007 Sheikha Mozah Al Missned[4]  Qatar
2008 President John Kufuor[4]  Ghana
2009 President Lula da Silva[5]  Brazil
2010 President Abdullah Gül[6]  Turkey
2011 Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi[7]  Myanmar
2012 President Moncef Marzouki and Rached Ghannouchi[4]  Tunisia
2013 Secretary of State Hillary Clinton[8]  United States
2014 Co-founder of the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation Melinda French Gates[9]  United States
2015 Médecins Sans Frontières [10]   Switzerland
2016 Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammad Javad Zarif[11]  Iran
Secretary of State John Kerry[11]  United States
2017 President Juan Manuel Santos[12]  Colombia
2018 Committee to Protect Journalists [13]  United States
2019 Sir David Attenborough and Julian Hector[14]  United Kingdom

Venue

Chatham House in 2012

Chatham House takes its name from the building where it is based, a Grade I listed 18th-century house in St James's Square, designed in part by Henry Flitcroft and occupied by three British Prime Ministers, including William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham.

History

Origins

The Royal Institute of International Affairs finds its origins in a meeting, convened by Lionel Curtis, of the American and British delegates to the Paris Peace Conference on 30 May 1919. Curtis had long been an advocate for the scientific study of international affairs and, following the beneficial exchange of information after the peace conference, argued that the method of expert analysis and debate should be continued when the delegates returned home in the form of international institute.[15]

Lionel Curtis was instrumental in the founding of Chatham House.

Ultimately, the British and American delegates formed separate institutes, with the Americans developing the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.

The British Institute of International Affairs, as it was then known, held its inaugural meeting, chaired by Robert Cecil, on 5 July 1920. In this, former Foreign Secretary Edward Grey moved the resolution calling the institute into existence:

"That an Institute be constituted for the study of International Questions, to be called the British Institute of International Affairs."[16]

These two, along with Arthur J. Balfour and John R. Clynes, became the first Presidents of the Institute, with Lionel Curtis and G. M. Gathorne–Hardy appointed joint Honorary Secretaries.[16]

By 1922, as the Institute's membership grew, there was a need for a larger and more practical space and the Institute acquired, through the gift of Canadian Colonel R. W. Leonard, Chatham House, Number 10 St. James's Square, where the Institute is still housed.[17]

Inter-war years

Following its inception, the Institute quickly focused upon Edward Grey's resolution, with the 1920s proving an active decade at Chatham House. The journal International Affairs was launched in January 1922, allowing for the international circulation of the various reports and discussions which took place within the Institute.[17]

After being appointed as Director of Studies, Professor Arnold Toynbee became the leading figure producing the Institute's annual Survey of International Affairs, a role he held until his retirement in 1955. While providing a detailed annual overview of international relations, the survey's primary role was ‘to record current international history’.[18] The survey continued until 1963 and was well received throughout the Institution, coming to be known as ‘the characteristic external expression of Chatham House research: a pioneer in method and a model for scholarship.’[19]

In 1926, 14 members of Chatham House represented the United Kingdom at the first conference of the Institute of Pacific Relations, a forum dedicated to the discussion of problems and relations between Pacific nations.[20] The IPR served as a platform for the Institute to develop an advanced political and commercial awareness of the region, with special focus being placed upon China's economic development and international relations.[21]

In the same year the Institute received its royal charter, thereupon being known as the Royal Institute of International Affairs. The Charter set out the aims and objectives of the Institute, reaffirming its wish to ‘advance the sciences of international politics...promote the study and investigation of international questions by means of lectures and discussion…promote the exchange of information, knowledge and thought on international affairs.’[22]

Further expansion

1929 marked the next stage in the Institute's development, with the appointment of a full-time chief executive or director. Ivison Macadam was appointed to the position (Secretary and then Director-General),[23] in which he oversaw the Institute's rapid expansion with its growing research, organisational and financial needs.[24] A role he occupied until 1955.

Macadam was able to secure funding to expand the physical plant of the Institute by acquiring the freeholds of 6 Duke of York Street, then called York Street, (largely though the generosity of Waldorf Astor, John Power and others) and later 9 St James's Square, then the Portland Club, in 1943 (through a donation to cover its purchase by Henry Price), and connect these adjoining properties to the original freehold property of Chatham House at 10, St James Square (with the cost of these connections covered by Astor's sons, William, David and John). Power also donated his leasehold property in Chesham Place to the Institute in 1938. These additional properties provided much needed additional space for the Institute's activities.[25]

1929 also saw the inception of the Institute's special study group on the international gold problem. The group, which included leading economists such as John Maynard Keynes, conducted a three-year study into the developing economic issues which the post-war international monetary settlement created.[26] The group's research anticipated Britain's decision to abandon the gold standard two years later.[27]

Around this time Chatham House became known as the place for leading statesmen and actors in world affairs to visit when in London; notably, Mahatma Gandhi visited the institute on 20 October 1931, in which he delivered a talk on ‘The Future of India’. The talk was attended by 750 members, making it the Institute's largest meeting up to that point.[28]

Committee of Post-War Reconstruction meeting in the Institute's Common Room, 1943.

In 1933 Norman Angell, whilst working within the Institute's Council, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his book The Great Illusion, making him the first and only Laureate to be awarded the prize for publishing a book.[28]

Chatham House held the first Commonwealth Relations Conference in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in 1933. Held roughly every five years, the conference provided a forum for leading politicians, lawyers, academics and others to discuss the implications of recent Imperial Conferences.[29] With various dominion nations seeking to follow individual foreign policy aims, Major-General Sir Neill Malcolm, the chairman of the Council of the Institute, [30] emphasised the need for "essential agreement in matters of foreign policy between the various Governments," with the Commonwealth Relations Conference being the vehicle upon which this cooperation would be achieved and maintained.[31]

In 1937, Robert Cecil was also awarded the Nobel Prize for his commitment to, and defence of, the League of Nations and the pursuit for peace and disarmament amongst its members.[32]

War years, 1939–1945

At the outbreak of the Second World War the Institute, under the Chairmanship of Waldorf Astor,[33] was decentralised for security reasons, with many of the staff moving to Balliol College, Oxford. There, the Foreign Press and Research Service of the Institute worked closely with the Foreign Office who requested various reports on foreign press, historical and political background of the enemy and various other topics supervised by Arnold Toynbee,[34] dedicating their research to the war effort.[35]

The Institute also provided many additional services to scholars and the armed forces at its St. James's Square home. Research facilities were opened to refugee and allied academics, whilst arrangements were made for both the National Institute of Economic and Social Research and the Polish Research Centre to relocate to the Institute following the bombing of their premises. In addition, allied officers undertook courses in international affairs at the Institute in an attempt to develop their international and political awareness as well as post war reconstruction planning.[35]

The post-war years

Chatham House had been researching potential post-war issues as early as 1939 through the Committee on Reconstruction.[35] Whilst a number of staff returned to the Institute at the end of the war, a proportion of members found themselves joining a range of international organisations, including the United Nations and the International Monetary Fund. Combining this with the Institute's early support of the League of Nations and impact of the gold study on the Bretton Woods system, Chatham House found itself to be a leading actor in international political and economic redevelopment.[35]

Margaret Thatcher leaving Chatham House after attending the 'Inside Saudi Arabia: Society, Economy and Defence' conference, October 1993.

In reaction to the changing post-war world, Chatham House embarked on a number of studies relating to Britain and the Commonwealth's new political stature, in light of growing calls for decolonisation and the development of the Cold War.[36] A board of studies in race relations was created in 1953, allowing for the close examination of changing attitudes and calls for racial equality throughout the world. The group broke off into an independent charity in 1958, forming the Institute of Race Relations.[37]

Following the Cuban missile crisis and Brazilian coup d'état, the institute developed a growing focus on the Latin American region. Che Guevara, then Cuba's Minister of Industry, wrote an analysis of ‘The Cuban Economy: Its Past and Present Importance’ in 1964 for International Affairs, displaying the Institute's desire to tackle the most difficult international issues.[38]

Chatham House played a more direct role in the international affairs of the Cold War through the October 1975 Anglo-Soviet round-table, the first in a series of meetings between Chatham House and the Institute of World Economy and International Relations in Moscow. As an early example of two-track diplomacy, the meeting sought to develop closer communication and improved relations between Britain and the Soviet Union, one of the first such attempts in the Cold War.[39]

Soon after the first Anglo-Soviet round-table, the Institute began an intensive research project into ‘British Foreign Policy to 1985’. Its primary aim was to analyse the foreign policy issues which Britain would encounter in the near and far future. Research began in 1976 and the findings were published in International Affairs between 1977 and 1979.

At the start of the 1980s, the Council moved to expand the Institute's research capabilities in two key emerging areas. The first modern programmes to be created under this initiative were the Energy and Research Programme and the International Economics Programme, formed in 1980 - 1981.[40]

In addition to reshaping its research practices, the Institute also sought to strengthen its international network, notably amongst economically prosperous nations. For example, Chatham House's Far East programme, created with the intention of improving Anglo-Japanese relations in the long and short term, was bolstered by the support of the Japan 2000 group in 1984.[41]

Nelson Mandela delivering a speech at the Chatham House conference 'South Africa: The Opportunity for Business', 10 July 1996.

Recent history

The Institute celebrated its 75th anniversary in 1995, an event marked by the visit of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. During her visit, the Queen was briefed by the Institute's experts on South Africa in preparation for her impending visit to the country, following the end of apartheid.

The year 1998 marked the creation of the Angola Forum. Combining the nation's oil reserves with its growing international ambition, Angola quickly became an influential African nation. As a result, Chatham House launched the Forum to create an international platform for 'forward looking, policy focused and influential debate and research'.[42] The Institute's wider Africa Programme was created in 2002, beginning the modern structure of area studies programmes.[43]

In 2005, Security, Terrorism and the UK was published.[44] The publication, which links the UK's participation in the Iraq War and the nation's exposure to terrorism, gained significant media attention.

The Chatham House Prize was also launched in 2005, recognising state actors who made a significant contribution to international relations the previous year. Queen Elizabeth II presented the debut award to Ukrainian President Victor Yushchenko.[45]

In January 2013 the Institute announced its Academy for Leadership in International Affairs, offering potential and established world leaders a 12-month fellowship at the institution with the aim of providing 'a unique programme of activities and training to develop a new generation of leaders in international affairs.' In November 2014, The Queen, accompanied by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, once again visited and formally launched the Academy under the title of the Queen Elizabeth II Academy for Leadership in International Affairs.[46]

Distinctions

In the University of Pennsylvania's rankings (announced in January 2017) for its Global Go To Think Tanks Report, Chatham House was ranked the think tank of the year, and the second-most influential in the world after the Brookings Institution, and the world's most influential non-U.S. think tank.[47] In November 2016, Chatham House was also named Prospect magazine's Think-Tank of the Year, as well as the winner in the UK categories for International Affairs and Energy and Environment.[48]

Officers

The current chairman of the Council of Chatham House is Jim O'Neill and its director is Robin Niblett. The deputy director is Adam Ward and research directors are Rob Bailey, Patricia Lewis, and Alex Vines.

Chatham House has three presidents. Two are from the two main political parties at Westminster: Sir John Major, former Prime Minister (Conservative); and The Baron Darling of Roulanish, former Chancellor of the Exchequer (Labour). The third is The Baroness Manningham-Buller, a crossbench peer and former Director General of MI5.[49]

Funding

Chatham has been rated as 'broadly transparent' in its funding by Transparify[50] and has been a given a C grade for funding transparency by Who Funds You?[51]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Become a member". Chatham House.
  2. ^ "Bernice Lee OBE - expert profile on Chatham House website".
  3. ^ Chatham House (September 2016). "Chatham House Events". TheatreSmart.com. Retrieved 1 December 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  4. ^ a b c d e f "Chatham House Prize". Chatham House. Retrieved 1 December 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  5. ^ "Lula: Brazil's Olympic Champion". Latinbusinesschronicle.com. 6 October 2009. Archived from the original on 28 November 2010. Retrieved 5 June 2010.
  6. ^ "Gül winner of prestigious Chatham House award". Todayszaman.com. 20 March 2010. Archived from the original on 16 October 2012. Retrieved 5 June 2010.
  7. ^ "Winner of prestigious Chatham House award 2011". chathamhouse.org. 2 December 2011. Retrieved 2 December 2011.
  8. ^ "Hillary Clinton voted Chatham House Prize winner" (Press release). Chatham House. 28 August 2013.
  9. ^ "Winner of prestigious Chatham House award 2014". 21 November 2014. Retrieved 6 February 2015.
  10. ^ "Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) Awarded 2015 Chatham House Prize". 22 June 2015.
  11. ^ a b "John Kerry and Mohammad Javad Zarif named winners of the Chatham House Prize 2016". Chatham House. 24 October 2016. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
  12. ^ "President Juan Manuel Santos named winner of the Chatham House Prize 2017". chathamhouse.org.
  13. ^ [1]
  14. ^ "Sir David Attenborough and the BBC Studios Natural History Unit awarded Chatham House Prize 2019 for ocean advocacy". chathamhouse.org.
  15. ^ Carrington (2004), p. 47
  16. ^ a b Carrington (2004), p. 48
  17. ^ a b Carrington (2004), p. 50
  18. ^ 'Report of the Council of the Royal Institute of International Affairs to the 7th AGM' in The Royal Institute of International Affairs Annual Reports 1926-1931, (London: Chatham House, 1931), p. 3.
  19. ^ 'Report of the Council of the Royal Institute of International Affairs to the 7th AGM' in The Royal Institute of International Affairs Annual Reports 1926-1931, (London: Chatham House, 1931), p. 11.
  20. ^ 'Report of the 8th AGM' in Annual Reports 1926-1931, p. 3
  21. ^ 'Report of the 11th AGM' in Annual Reports 1926-1931, p. 31.
  22. ^ 'Report of the 11th AGM' in Annual Reports 1926-1931, pp. 5 - 6.
  23. ^ Chatham House: Its History and Inhabitants, C. E. Carrington, Revised and updated by Mary Bone, The Royal Institute of International Affairs, 2004.
  24. ^ Obituary of Ivison Macadam published in The Times , London, 31 December 1974 by Kenneth Younger
  25. ^ The Institute then owned the freeholds covering a rectangle of properties fronting on 10 and 9 in St. James’s Square on the south running north bordered on the east by Duke of York Street to the properties on Ormand Yard on the north (the mews immediately south of Jermyn Street). These freehold properties also later proved to be a valuable financial asset when in the 1960s the northern properties were redeveloped to provide additional annual income for the Institute. Chatham House: Its History and Inhabitants, C. E. Carrington, Revised and updated by Mary Bone, The Royal Institute of International Affairs, 2004.
  26. ^ "The International Gold Problem, 1931-2011". Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  27. ^ Kisch, C.H. "The Gold Problem" (PDF). Chatham House. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 June 2013. Retrieved 31 January 2014.
  28. ^ a b "Sir Norman Angell - Facts". Nobelprize.org. 7 October 1967. Retrieved 4 August 2014.
  29. ^ McIntyre, W. David (2008). "The Unofficial Commonwealth Relations Conferences, 1933–59: Precursors of the Tri-sector Commonwealth". Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History. 36 (4): 591–614. doi:10.1080/03086530802560992. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  30. ^ Chatham House: Its History and Inhabitants, C.E.Carrington and Mary Bone, Royal Institute of International Affairs, 2004. p 114.
  31. ^ 'Report of the 13th AGM' in The Royal Institute of International Affairs Annual Reports 1931-1932, pp. 9-10.
  32. ^ "Robert Cecil - Facts". Nobelprize.org. 24 November 1958. Retrieved 4 August 2014.
  33. ^ Chatham House: Its history and inhabitants, C. E. Carrington and Mary Bone, Royal Institute of International Affairs, p 114
  34. ^ Chatham House and British Foreign Policy, 1919-1945, Edited by Andrea Bosco & Cornelia Nevari, Lothian Foundation Press, 1994, p146.
  35. ^ a b c d Carrington (2004), pp. 63–64
  36. ^ Julius, Dr. DeAnne. "Impartial and International" (PDF). Chatham House. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 October 2012. Retrieved 24 January 2014.
  37. ^ "About | Institute of Race Relations". Irr.org.uk. Retrieved 4 August 2014.
  38. ^ The Royal Institute of International Affairs Annual Reports, 1964-1965, p. 3.
  39. ^ The Royal Institute of International Affairs Annual Reports, 1975-1976, p. 3.
  40. ^ The Royal Institute of International Affairs Annual Reports, 1980–1981, p. 9.
  41. ^ The Royal Institute of International Affairs Annual Reports, 1984-1985, p. 7.
  42. ^ "Angola Forum". Chatham House.
  43. ^ "Africa Programme". Chatham House.
  44. ^ "International Security Department". Chatham House.
  45. ^ "Impartial and International" (PDF). Chathamhouse.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 October 2012. Retrieved 3 February 2014.
  46. ^ "Academy for Leadership in International Affairs". Chatham House. Retrieved 4 August 2014.
  47. ^ "2017 Think Tank Rankings - Cheat Sheet". www.thinktankwatch.com. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
  48. ^ Team, Prospect. "Think Tank Awards 2016: the winners". Retrieved 5 January 2018.
  49. ^ "Patron and Presidents". Chatham House. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
  50. ^ "Round-Up of Transparify 2018 Ratings". Transparify. Retrieved 7 July 2019.
  51. ^ "Chatham House | Who Funds You?". whofundsyou.org. Retrieved 7 July 2019.

Bibliography

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