" Think tanks in the United States generally receive funding from private donors, and members of private organization think tanks may feel more free to propose and debate controversial ideas than people within government. Chinese think tanks In the People's Republic of China a number of think tanks are sponsored by governmental agencies but still retain sufficient non-official status to be able to propose and debate ideas more freely . Indeed, most of the actual diplomacy between China and the United States has taken the form of academic exchanges between members of think tanks. European think tanks In Britain, think tanks play a similar role to the United States, attempting to shape policy, and indeed there is some cooperation between British and American think tanks. In Germany all of the major parties are loosely associated with research foundations that play some role in shaping policy, but generally from the more disinterested role of providing research to support policymakers than explicitly proposing policy. The foundations are: Associated with the CDU is the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (in German, the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung); The SPD is associated with the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung); The Free Democratic Party (Germany) is associated with the Friedrich Naumann Foundation (Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung); The Alliance '90/The Greens are associated with the Heinrich Böll Foundation (Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung); The Left Party is associated with the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation (Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung). In Switzerland, Avenir Suisse (which proposes a free-market liberalism agenda) is the only think tank in the sense of this article that is currently active. Positive Thought For The Day After the fall of the iron curtain, Eastern Europe has seen a number of new think tanks arise, although they are still playing a relatively minor role in the forming of government policy. Russian think tanks Russian think tanks have experienced a precipitous decline over the past five years. "

" Chinese think tanks In the People's Republic of China a number of think tanks are sponsored by governmental agencies but still retain sufficient non-official status to be able to propose and debate ideas more freely. Indeed, most of the actual diplomacy between China and the United States has taken the form of academic exchanges between members of think tanks. European think tanks In Britain, think tanks play a similar role to the United States, attempting to shape policy, and indeed there is some cooperation between British and American think tanks. In Germany all of the major parties are loosely associated with research foundations that play some role in shaping policy, but generally from the more disinterested role of providing research to support policymakers than explicitly proposing policy. The foundations are: Associated with the CDU is the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (in German, the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung); The SPD is associated with the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung); The Free Democratic Party (Germany) is associated with the Friedrich Naumann Foundation (Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung); The Alliance '90/The Greens are associated with the Heinrich Böll Foundation (Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung); The Left Party is associated with the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation (Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung). In Switzerland, Avenir Suisse (which proposes a free-market liberalism agenda) is the only think tank in the sense of this article that is currently active. After the fall of the iron curtain, Eastern Europe has seen a number of new think tanks arise, although they are still playing a relatively minor role in the forming of government policy. Mother Day Thought Russian think tanks Russian think tanks have experienced a precipitous decline over the past five years. Under the Soviet Union think tanks, analagous to their American counterparts, grew to play a significant role in strategic policy formation. "