Chatham House
The Royal Institute of International Affairs, commonly known as Chatham House, is a British think tank based in London, England. Its stated mission is "to help governments and societies build a sustainably secure, prosperous, and just world". It is the originator of the Chatham House Rule.
For the school in Ramsgate, see Chatham House Grammar School. For the mansion in Virginia, United States, see Chatham Manor.Established
1920
10 St James's Square
London, England
6,000 (approx.)
The British Institute of International Affairs
Overview[edit]
The Royal Institute of International Affairs has its headquarters in central London at 10 St James's Square, which is known as Chatham House. It is a Grade I listed 18th-century building that was designed in part by Henry Flitcroft and was occupied by three British prime ministers, including William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham, whose name became associated with the house.[1] Canadian philanthropists Lieutenant-Colonel Reuben Wells Leonard and Kate Rowlands Leonard purchased the property in 1923 and then donated the building to the fledgling institute as its headquarters.[2] As a result, the Chatham House name is used as a metonym for the institute as a whole.
Chatham House accepts individual members, as well as members from corporations, academic institutions, and NGOs.[3]
Chatham House Rule[edit]
Chatham House is the origin of the non-attribution rule known as the Chatham House Rule, which provides that an attendee of a meeting may discuss the content of this meeting in the outside world, but may not discuss who attended nor 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.[4]
Research and publications[edit]
Chatham House research is structured around five thematic programmes, comprising: environment and society; global economy and finance; global health security; international law; and international security; as well as seven regional programmes, covering Africa, the Asia-Pacific region, Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, Russia and Eurasia, the USA and Americas and the UK in the World launched in 2023.[5]
Chatham House contains the Sustainability Accelerator (formerly Hoffmann Centre for Sustainable Resource Economy), which focuses on the political economy of resource production and consumption.[6]
Chatham House regularly hosts speakers from the UK and international policy and business communities.[7]
Chatham House has produced the policy journal International Affairs since 1922, and the Journal of Cyber Policy[8] since 2016. It has also published a monthly global affairs magazine, The World Today, since 1945.[9]
History[edit]
Origins[edit]
The Royal Institute of International Affairs originated 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.[10]
Funding[edit]
During the 2020/2021 year, Chatham's largest donors were the MAVA Foundation which provided over £5,000,000 and the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, which provided over £1,000,000. The charitable organisation Robert Bosch Stiftung and the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs provided between £500,000 and £1,000,000 each.[68]
In November 2022, the funding transparency website Who Funds You? gave the Chatham a C grade (rating goes from A to E).[69]
Distinctions[edit]
In November 2016, Chatham House was 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.[83]
In the University of Pennsylvania's rankings for 2017, 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.[84]