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 eight. 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.

Progressive and liberal activists, including Anne Braden of the Southern Organizing Committee and Suzanne Pharr of the Highlander Research Center, are supportive of PRA. [1]. 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." [2]

References

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