What are think tanks?
According to Wikipedia: "A think tank is a group of individuals dedicated to high-level synergistic research on a variety of subjects, usually in military laboratories, corporations, or other institutions. Usually this term refers specifically to organizations which support theorists and intellectuals who endeavor to produce analysis or policy recommendations." Here I discuss just the think tanks that "produce analysis or policy recommendations."
While some think tanks attempt impartiality in their research most do not. Think tanks are funded by private donors and private donors often fund think tanks that produce the types of "research" (and outcomes of that "research") that the donor is interested in. Because think tanks are not technically lobbying firms or affiliated with any political party they do not have to disclose who funds them. Having poked around a bit on some think tank web sites I've noticed a very interesting trend: those think tanks that attempt impartiality usually disclose their largest donors, whereas those that have very specific idealogies never do. This means that donors who want a specific outcome do not have to publically endorse the ideas that they want to put into place.
One of the buzzterms associated with think tanks is the "echo chamber." If findings of a think tank's research starts to be echoed by politicians or by the press then that think tank knows that it has done its job. In fact nearly all experts heard on mainstream radio or television today are working for some non-academic institute or another (think tanks) and much of the "facts" that are repeated on news programs by politicians and pundits (I would hope that journalists have findings of there own) orginate in think tanks. Probably all "experts" on FOX news are from think tanks. Even public and community supported media, such as Democracy Now! and NPR, use think tank fellows. So it seems obvious that these organizations have a lot of influence. This is not to say that good research doesn't come out of think tanks. Rather, I would reccomend that the particular affiliations of think tank fellows should be checked when trying to understand who's interests they might be promoting.
One interesting fact is that there are two times as many conservative think tanks as liberal think tanks and the conservative think tanks are by far the best funded. So if you think that there is a fair fight in terms of ideas, think again. Funding for liberal think tanks has increased rapidly in an attempt to play catch-up, but I do not know whether it increasing as rapidly as that for conservative organizations. Also of interest, in the 1970s there were only a handful of think tanks dedicated to policy analysis and political influence. Today there are over 300 think tanks devoted to politics of some sort or another. This is a rising trend.
In other posts I plan to give specific examples of think tank influence, talk about alternatives to think tanks and discuss questions like: are think tanks just money laundering operations for political lobbying? And, do we want a country where multiple think tanks on all sides of political issues duking it out?
While some think tanks attempt impartiality in their research most do not. Think tanks are funded by private donors and private donors often fund think tanks that produce the types of "research" (and outcomes of that "research") that the donor is interested in. Because think tanks are not technically lobbying firms or affiliated with any political party they do not have to disclose who funds them. Having poked around a bit on some think tank web sites I've noticed a very interesting trend: those think tanks that attempt impartiality usually disclose their largest donors, whereas those that have very specific idealogies never do. This means that donors who want a specific outcome do not have to publically endorse the ideas that they want to put into place.
One of the buzzterms associated with think tanks is the "echo chamber." If findings of a think tank's research starts to be echoed by politicians or by the press then that think tank knows that it has done its job. In fact nearly all experts heard on mainstream radio or television today are working for some non-academic institute or another (think tanks) and much of the "facts" that are repeated on news programs by politicians and pundits (I would hope that journalists have findings of there own) orginate in think tanks. Probably all "experts" on FOX news are from think tanks. Even public and community supported media, such as Democracy Now! and NPR, use think tank fellows. So it seems obvious that these organizations have a lot of influence. This is not to say that good research doesn't come out of think tanks. Rather, I would reccomend that the particular affiliations of think tank fellows should be checked when trying to understand who's interests they might be promoting.
One interesting fact is that there are two times as many conservative think tanks as liberal think tanks and the conservative think tanks are by far the best funded. So if you think that there is a fair fight in terms of ideas, think again. Funding for liberal think tanks has increased rapidly in an attempt to play catch-up, but I do not know whether it increasing as rapidly as that for conservative organizations. Also of interest, in the 1970s there were only a handful of think tanks dedicated to policy analysis and political influence. Today there are over 300 think tanks devoted to politics of some sort or another. This is a rising trend.
In other posts I plan to give specific examples of think tank influence, talk about alternatives to think tanks and discuss questions like: are think tanks just money laundering operations for political lobbying? And, do we want a country where multiple think tanks on all sides of political issues duking it out?
posted by Metatree at 12:55 AM
2 Comments:
If it's a war of ideas between the liberal and conservative think tanks, then, well, what us non-conservative-tending folks need to do is support our big guns over in the liberal think tanks, and maybe fund more liberal talk shows that use their ideas to proselytize the red sectors.
Are think tanks a good idea at all? They seem inevitible in our current system of communication and politics; now that we've started to understand the science of how people in this society form form ideas on a large scale.
Good question and thanks for the comment. You're probably right that think tanks are inevitable. And, should we support our liberal think tanks in order to keep a voice in this fray? I'm leaning toward yes. I'll put up a post dealing this issue in the next couple of days.
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