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On his Santa Monica mountaintop, a billionaire envisions lofty thoughts on politics and culture
Last edited Mon May 2, 2016, 02:18 AM - Edit history (1)
http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-nicolas-berggruen-think-tank-20160429-snap-story.html
On his Santa Monica mountaintop, a billionaire envisions lofty thoughts on politics and culture
Thomas Curwen, Contact Reporter
April 30, 2016
...Upon this stretch of undeveloped dirt, one-time landfill for the city, Berggruen is hoping to build the headquarters for a think tank that bears his name. He purchased these 450 acres, just west of the 405 Freeway in the Sepulveda Pass, last year and hopes to break ground before the decade is over.
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In its fifth year, the Berggruen Institute is on its way to establishing itself in a crowded landscape of think tanks.
Funded at $500 million, the institute has been called a mini-Davos in reference to the global economic forum held in Switzerland and is ready to claim its mountaintop. Berggruen, who waves aside discussion of his worth only to say that Forbes' estimate of $1.52 billion is low, hopes to increase the endowment to $1 billion.
But the size of an endowment, said James G. McGann, director of the Think Thanks and Civil Societies Program at the University of Pennsylvania, is not always a measure of an institute's efficacy.
"I put think tanks and foundations into three categories: kooky, conventional and cutting edge," said McGann, who is uncertain where this institute lies.
Success comes from the quality and impact of the scholarship, and McGann is concerned that Berggruen hasn't done enough to develop a vision greater than his own.
With Berggruen as chairman, his board includes Arianna Huffington, Pakistani economist and former prime minister Shaukat Aziz, former CEO at PIMCO Mohamed El-Erian and political scientist Margaret Levi. Its administrative staff of about 20 works out of offices in West Los Angeles with branches in New York, Washington, D.C., Berlin and Beijing.
The institute has developed philosophy and culture fellowships at selected universities and the annual $1-million Berggruen Prize in Philosophy, but the work of its committees and councils lies at the heart of its mission.
Meeting regularly, they produce reports for political leaders and often publish their recommendations in the World Post, an on-line publication of the Huffington Post and the institute.
The 21st Century Council is comprised of 51 members including advisor to China president Xi Jinping, Zheng Bijian; the former president of Brazil, Fernando Henrique; former president of Mexico Ernesto Zedillo; executive chairman of Alphabet (formerly Google) Eric Schmidt and Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz. Their task: to help shape the agenda for the annual G-20 summits.
The Council for the Future of Europe — 30 members including former prime ministers of Germany, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Poland, Spain, Italy, Finland and Belgium — meets to grapple with the economic and political crisis facing the European Union.
<>
At a fifth anniversary party on Tuesday at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, Berggruen will introduce his latest committee, 14 Angelenos — Snapchat founder Evan Speigel, former Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski, former county supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, architect Frank Gehry, to name a few — who will help steer the institute more directly into Los Angeles' civic life.
<>
Perhaps the most effective policy recommendations have come from the Think Long Committee for California, 15 members including Eli Broad, Willie Brown, George Schultz, Condoleezza Rice and Gray Davis.
Working with Common Cause, California Forward and other state groups, Think Long helped revise the ballot initiative process. It also worked with Gov. Jerry Brown to get Proposition 2, the so-called rainy-day fund, on the ballot in 2014. Both measures are now law.
The Berggruen Institute argues that the best public policy can be derived from experts in the private sector and from former politicians no longer constrained by their constituencies...
On his Santa Monica mountaintop, a billionaire envisions lofty thoughts on politics and culture
Thomas Curwen, Contact Reporter
April 30, 2016
...Upon this stretch of undeveloped dirt, one-time landfill for the city, Berggruen is hoping to build the headquarters for a think tank that bears his name. He purchased these 450 acres, just west of the 405 Freeway in the Sepulveda Pass, last year and hopes to break ground before the decade is over.
<>
In its fifth year, the Berggruen Institute is on its way to establishing itself in a crowded landscape of think tanks.
Funded at $500 million, the institute has been called a mini-Davos in reference to the global economic forum held in Switzerland and is ready to claim its mountaintop. Berggruen, who waves aside discussion of his worth only to say that Forbes' estimate of $1.52 billion is low, hopes to increase the endowment to $1 billion.
But the size of an endowment, said James G. McGann, director of the Think Thanks and Civil Societies Program at the University of Pennsylvania, is not always a measure of an institute's efficacy.
"I put think tanks and foundations into three categories: kooky, conventional and cutting edge," said McGann, who is uncertain where this institute lies.
Success comes from the quality and impact of the scholarship, and McGann is concerned that Berggruen hasn't done enough to develop a vision greater than his own.
With Berggruen as chairman, his board includes Arianna Huffington, Pakistani economist and former prime minister Shaukat Aziz, former CEO at PIMCO Mohamed El-Erian and political scientist Margaret Levi. Its administrative staff of about 20 works out of offices in West Los Angeles with branches in New York, Washington, D.C., Berlin and Beijing.
The institute has developed philosophy and culture fellowships at selected universities and the annual $1-million Berggruen Prize in Philosophy, but the work of its committees and councils lies at the heart of its mission.
Meeting regularly, they produce reports for political leaders and often publish their recommendations in the World Post, an on-line publication of the Huffington Post and the institute.
The 21st Century Council is comprised of 51 members including advisor to China president Xi Jinping, Zheng Bijian; the former president of Brazil, Fernando Henrique; former president of Mexico Ernesto Zedillo; executive chairman of Alphabet (formerly Google) Eric Schmidt and Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz. Their task: to help shape the agenda for the annual G-20 summits.
The Council for the Future of Europe — 30 members including former prime ministers of Germany, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Poland, Spain, Italy, Finland and Belgium — meets to grapple with the economic and political crisis facing the European Union.
<>
At a fifth anniversary party on Tuesday at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, Berggruen will introduce his latest committee, 14 Angelenos — Snapchat founder Evan Speigel, former Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski, former county supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, architect Frank Gehry, to name a few — who will help steer the institute more directly into Los Angeles' civic life.
<>
Perhaps the most effective policy recommendations have come from the Think Long Committee for California, 15 members including Eli Broad, Willie Brown, George Schultz, Condoleezza Rice and Gray Davis.
Working with Common Cause, California Forward and other state groups, Think Long helped revise the ballot initiative process. It also worked with Gov. Jerry Brown to get Proposition 2, the so-called rainy-day fund, on the ballot in 2014. Both measures are now law.
The Berggruen Institute argues that the best public policy can be derived from experts in the private sector and from former politicians no longer constrained by their constituencies...
3 replies
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= new reply since forum marked as read
for his citadel on the mountain after the TTIP has done its damage.
A good earthquake could fix that but it seems there is far more damage to be done prior to Mother Earth getting her revenge. 
