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Political Research Associates (PRA) is a research group, located in Somerville, Massachusetts, which studies the U.S. political right wing. It was founded in 1981 by Jean V. Hardisty, Ph.D., and now has a full-time staff of six. The director is Katherine Hancock Ragsdale. Chip Berlet is senior analyst. Researchers include Pam Chamberlain.

Progressive and liberal activists, including Anne Braden of the Southern Organizing Committee and Suzanne Pharr of the Highlander Research Center, are supportive of PRA. .

However one critic, Daniel Brandt, has described PRA as a "private intelligence agency," a type of organization that will "generally inbreed with their adversaries and mutate into a peculiar political animal."

David Horowitz's conservative DiscovertheNetworks.org (DTN) organization accuses PRA of engaging in "smear tactics" and promoting a "hard left agenda." According to DTN PRA has communist political leanings including the promotion of the Marxist doctrine of "dialectical materialism." DTN also accuses PRA of supporting Palestinian anti-Semitism, promoting and defending illegal immigration into the United States, and discouraging political cooperation between liberals and conservatives "regardless of the underlying cause."

PRA funding is derived from foundation grants, individual contributions, and the sale of research materials. Among its major donors are the Public Welfare Foundation, Peter Edelman, the Ford Foundation, and Barbra Streisand.

References

• Website of Political Research Associates
• "Cyberspace Wars: Microprocessing vs. Big Brother", including criticism of PRA, by Daniel Brandt of Namebase.org
• Political Research Associates profile on DiscovertheNetworks.org

• Political science
• Journalism organizations