This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Herschelkrustofsky (talk | contribs) at 15:08, 31 December 2004 (Well, that's not exactly what Brandt is saying. Restored one sentence characterization). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 15:08, 31 December 2004 by Herschelkrustofsky (talk | contribs) (Well, that's not exactly what Brandt is saying. Restored one sentence characterization)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Political Research Associates (PRA) is an American research group which studies the U.S. political right wing. It was founded in 1981 and is located in Somerville, Massachusetts. It has a full-time staff of eight. The founder and first president of PRA is Jean V. Hardisty, Ph.D. The current director is Roberta Salper. Nikhil Aziz is associate director and director of research. Chip Berlet is senior analyst. Researchers include Palak Shah and Pam Chamberlain.
There are some critics of PRA who claim the group, especially senior analyst Chip Berlet, is overly critical of persons and groups who see conspiracies as driving history and current events. Another critic, Daniel Brandt, describes PRA as a "private intelligence agency," a type of organization that will "generally inbreed with their adversaries and mutate into a peculiar political animal."
Most progressive and liberal groups and leaders, however, are supportive of PRA, including Anne Braden of the Southern Organizing Committee and Suzanne Pharr of the Highlander Research Center .