The Future of Think Tanks and Policy Advice: An African Perspective

The chapter provides an overview of how policy analysis takes place in Mexican Think Tanks. It focuses on two of the few organisations of this kind that currently exist in the country: the Centro de Investigación para el Desarrollo (CIDAC, or Centre for Research for Development) and the Centro de Estudios Espinosa Yglesias (CEEY, or Centre of Studies Espinosa Yglesias). The chapter is divided into four sections. The first discusses the main features of think tanks, with a particular focus on the Mexican ones. The second presents the origins and general objectives of CIDAC and CEEY, and describes how these two organizations conduct policy analysis. The third compares both cases, paying particular attention to how they define their topics of interest, how they gather relevant information, what kind of policy products they generate, what kind of communication channels they use, and how they assess the impact that their analyses may have had. The chapter closes with some conclusions and general remarks about the future challenges of policy analysis in Mexican think tanks.

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Future by Design

Futures ◽

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198806820.013.29 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 500-513

Author(s):

Christina Garsten ◽

Adrienne Sörbom

Keyword(s):

Complex System ◽

Global Governance ◽

Think Tanks ◽

Decision Makers ◽

Shared Understanding ◽

Perceived Need ◽

The Future ◽

The Creation ◽

Rational Process ◽

Sense Of Urgency

This chapter critiques the anticipatory practices of contemporary organizations, such as think tanks and management consultancies, which offer methods and forecasts about possible and desirable futures. These organizations, the chapter argues, contribute to creating a sense of urgency with respect to the future, capitalizing on the perceived need among decision makers to grasp contemporary events, and provide tools and content by which the future can be designed. It argues that future forecast scenarios assist in the creation of a particular type of authority: one geared to the contemporary global situation and to an increasingly complex system of global governance. The chapter interrogates this particular type of authority to argue it is not singular and dominant, but instead comprises the varying interests of many different actors and is underscored by rational process, which offers the possibility of a wider shared understanding

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