Center for Governmental Studies
Encyclopedia
The Center for Governmental Studies (CGS) is a non-profit, nonpartisan
organization founded in 1983. It creates innovative political and media solutions to help individuals participate in their communities and governments, and empowers citizens to become more engaged in their communities, state and local governments. CGS identifies policy problems, conducts factual and legal research, builds consensus for reforms, drafts model laws, shapes public opinion, educates the public and communicates with elected and opinion leaders.
During its active years, CSG pursued efforts such as campaign finance reform
, state budget reform, and higher education, as well as supplying alternative perspectives on issues such as term limits, ballot propositions, and open primaries
.
Ballotpedia
claims that the donors to CSG are "includes organizations that are generally identified as leaning to the left in their political views".
As a resource to the public, CGS maintains PolicyArchive
, a digital archive of global, non-partisan public policy
research.
In October 2011, the organization announced that it would be closing on October 20, 2011. The announcement cited a decline in funding, which the organization attributed to both the poor economy and a "dramatically polarized political environment", as reasons for the decision. The organization's founders, Bob Stern and Tracy Westen, were reportedly in negotiations with Claremont Graduate University
to provide a base of operations.
Nonpartisan
In political science, nonpartisan denotes an election, event, organization or person in which there is no formally declared association with a political party affiliation....
organization founded in 1983. It creates innovative political and media solutions to help individuals participate in their communities and governments, and empowers citizens to become more engaged in their communities, state and local governments. CGS identifies policy problems, conducts factual and legal research, builds consensus for reforms, drafts model laws, shapes public opinion, educates the public and communicates with elected and opinion leaders.
During its active years, CSG pursued efforts such as campaign finance reform
Campaign finance reform
Campaign finance reform is the common term for the political effort in the United States to change the involvement of money in politics, primarily in political campaigns....
, state budget reform, and higher education, as well as supplying alternative perspectives on issues such as term limits, ballot propositions, and open primaries
Open primary
An open primary is a primary election that does not require voters to be affiliated with a political party in order to vote for partisan candidates. In a traditional open primary, voters may select one party's ballot and vote for that party's nomination. As in a closed primary, the highest voted...
.
Ballotpedia
Ballotpedia
Ballotpedia is a wiki-style website billed as "an interactive almanac of state politics". InfoWorld has called it one of the "Top 20 Election Day Web sites and online tools".-Purpose:...
claims that the donors to CSG are "includes organizations that are generally identified as leaning to the left in their political views".
As a resource to the public, CGS maintains PolicyArchive
PolicyArchive
PolicyArchive is a digital archive of global, non-partisan public policy research maintained by the Center for Governmental Studies and the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis University Library....
, a digital archive of global, non-partisan public policy
Public policy
Public policy as government action is generally the principled guide to action taken by the administrative or executive branches of the state with regard to a class of issues in a manner consistent with law and institutional customs. In general, the foundation is the pertinent national and...
research.
In October 2011, the organization announced that it would be closing on October 20, 2011. The announcement cited a decline in funding, which the organization attributed to both the poor economy and a "dramatically polarized political environment", as reasons for the decision. The organization's founders, Bob Stern and Tracy Westen, were reportedly in negotiations with Claremont Graduate University
Claremont Graduate University
Claremont Graduate University is a private, all-graduate research university located in Claremont, California, a city east of downtown Los Angeles...
to provide a base of operations.