Barcelona Centre for International Affairs

CIDOB, acronym of the Barcelona Centre for International Affairs, is a Spanish think-tank based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, dedicated to research and divulge contents of the different areas of international relations and development studies. The centre defines itself as an organisation that is «an independent, non partisan centre that contributes to ongoing international debates from the perspective of a major Mediterranean metropolis». Legally speaking, CIDOB is a public foundation with a Board of Trustees that includes among its members the main political institutions and universities of Catalonia and Barcelona, in addition to a number of ministries of the Spanish Government. CIDOB is currently the oldest think-tank in Spain, and one of the most influential in its field, so they claim.

The centre's original name was, from 1973 onwards, Centre d'Informació i Documentació Internacionals a Barcelona , thus giving rise to the acronym CIDOB. Later on, the centre was referred with other names, including Centro de Relaciones Internacionales y Cooperación Internacional , Centro de Investigación de Relaciones Internacionales y Desarrollo and, particularly over the years and until 2013, Centro de Estudios y Documentación Internacionales de Barcelona . These titles still appear in quotes and references from other media, thereby creating certain confusion. Since 2013 the official name, in all cases and without translations, uses the English form Barcelona Centre for International Affairs. All these names no longer correspond to the historical acronym, though it has always been used exclusively to refer to the organisation.

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