Institute for US and Canadian Studies (Russian: Институт США и Канады РАН, ''Institut SShA i Kanadi RAN'') is a Russian
think tank
A think tank, or public policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governme ...
which is part of the
Russian Academy of Sciences
The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across the Russian Federation; and additional scientific and social units such ...
, specializing on the comprehensive studies of the United Statesand Canada.
The institute continues to publish the monthly journal ''USA-Canada: Economics, Politics, Culture'', which was founded in 1970. The journal is one of the leading Russian foreign policy magazines. It has a strong reputation for thoughtful, analytical, and unbiased articles by major Russian scholars and PhD students.
History
ISKRAN was founded by Dr. Georgy Arbatov in 1967, who led the institute until 1995. Since that time it has been the main Soviet and later Russian center of research of American and Canadian foreign and internal policy.
ISKRAN in 1967–1991
Founded in the late 1960s and originally known as the USA Institute, its name was subsequently changed to the US and Canada Institute to reflect an expanded geographic focus. It was one of a number of
area studies
Area studies, also known as regional studies, is an interdisciplinary field of research and scholarship pertaining to particular geographical, national/ federal, or cultural regions. The term exists primarily as a general description for what a ...
organizations created by the Soviet government to engage in unfettered research on regional issues; former institute director Georgy Arbatov referred to these organizations as "oases of creative thought".
By the late 1980s, the institute had a staff of 300 specialists and published a monthly scholarly journal, ''U.S.A.: Economics, Politics, Ideology''.
ISKRAN played an important role in the Soviet foreign policy decision making process. Its specialists were responsible for providing unbiased information to Soviet top leaders on the economies, and political and military development of the United States. ISKRAN also included a doctoral department which provided highly competitive scholarships for American studies. ISKRAN specialists were among the architects of Soviet detente policy and later assisted Soviet leaders in preparing all major arms control deals with the United States. The head of the institute, Arbatov, was a personal adviser to
Brezhnev
Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev (19 December 190610 November 1982) was a Soviet politician who served as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1964 until his death in 1982 as well as the fourth chairman of the Presidium ...
, Andropov, Chernenko, and Gorbachev. Since ISKRAN specialists had direct access to the data from the Western bloc, they managed to overcome ideological barriers and to better understand the internal situation in the Soviet Union and the
Communist bloc
The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc (Combloc), the Socialist Bloc, the Workers Bloc, and the Soviet Bloc, was an unofficial coalition of communist states of Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America that were a ...
in the late 1970s to early 1980s. Thus ISKRAN was one of the major Soviet institutes initiating and supporting Gorbachev's policy of
perestroika
''Perestroika'' ( ; rus, перестройка, r=perestrojka, p=pʲɪrʲɪˈstrojkə, a=ru-perestroika.ogg, links=no) was a political reform movement within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) during the late 1980s, widely associ ...
in 1985. U.S.-based critics of the US and Canada Institute accused it of being an
active measures
Active measures () is a term used to describe political warfare conducted by the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation. The term, which dates back to the 1920s, includes operations such as espionage, propaganda, sabotage and assassination, b ...
initiative whose purpose was to spread
disinformation
Disinformation is misleading content deliberately spread to deceive people, or to secure economic or political gain and which may cause public harm. Disinformation is an orchestrated adversarial activity in which actors employ strategic dece ...
in the United States.
ISKRAN after 1991
ISKRAN remained one of the Russian think tanks after the
collapse of the Soviet Union
The Soviet Union was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration No. 142-N of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Declaration No. 142-Н of ...
. It continued its studies of international political, economic, and military issues. ISKRAN retained its functions of political and economic consultations of major Russian government bodies. Currently the institute is headed by
Sergey Rogov
Sergey Mikhailovich Rogov (; 22 October 1948 – 9 February 2025) was a Russian political scientist, member of Russian Academy of Sciences, 1995–2015 director of the Institute for US and Canadian Studies.Институт США и Канады РАН The institute arranges conferences, workshops, and debates on major issues of international relations.
In 2007, ISKRAN was included in a list of the world leading think-tanks.