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 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 policydecision 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, 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 in the late 1970s to early 1980s. Thus ISKRAN was one of the major Soviet institutes initiating and supporting Gorbachev's policy of perestroika in 1985. U.S.-based critics of the US and Canada Institute accused it of being an active measures initiative whose purpose was to spread disinformation in the United States.
ISKRAN after 1991
ISKRAN remained one of the leading Russian think tanks after the collapse of the Soviet Union. 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. The institute arranges conferences, workshops, and debates on major issues of international relations. Many Russian and foreign scholars and policymakers give their lectures for ISKRAN. Some of Russian prominent policymakers have studied or worked at ISKRAN. In 2007 ISKRAN was included in the list ofthe world leading think-tanks.
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.
