Democracy, civil society and the strategies pursued by think tanks in Mexico

2021 ◽  
pp. 57-77
Author(s):  
Alejandra Salas-Porras
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Think Tanks

Case study 2

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ewan Ferlie ◽  
Sue Dopson ◽  
Chris Bennett ◽  
Michael D. Fischer ◽  
Jean Ledger ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Think Tanks ◽  
Science Literature ◽  
Informal Networks ◽  
Think Tank ◽  
Significant Potential ◽  
Key Stakeholders

This chapter analyses the role of think tanks in generating a distinctive mode of policy knowledge, pragmatically orientated to inform and shape issues of importance to civil society. Drawing on political science literature, we argue that think tanks exploit niche areas of expertise and influence to actively mobilize policy analyses and recommendations across diverse stakeholders. Through our exploratory mapping of think tanks, geographically concentrated within London, we characterize their influence as significantly boosting knowledge intensity across the regional ecosystem. In particular, we study the empirical case of one London-based think tank which powerfully mobilized policy knowledge through its formal and informal networks to build influential expert consensus amongst key stakeholders. We conclude that such organizations act as key knowledge producers and mobilizers, with significant potential to influence policy discourses and implementation.

Thinks tanks and their role in policy making in ireland

2021 ◽  
pp. 157-170
Author(s):  
Chris McInerney
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
International Experience ◽  
Think Tanks ◽  
Think Tank ◽  
Complex Issue ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Broad Variety

This chapter reviews the role of think tanks in policy making. Like most modern democracies, Ireland relies on a range of sources to influence the choices and designs of public policy. Apart from political and administrative influences, a broad variety of civil society, academic and private sector actors seek to access, influence, advise, inform and sometimes embarrass those in power. The chapter focuses on ‘think tanks’, defining them, reviewing international experience, examining different types and considering the complex issue of assessing think tank influence. It maps out Ireland’s limited think tank landscape and examines recent developments. Think tanks’ influence on Irish policymaking is assessed across a number of indicators.

scholarly journals Civil Society and Professions: US Civic and Politicized Lawyering

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Helena Flam
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Political Activism ◽  
Professional Associations ◽  
Think Tanks ◽  
Professional Life ◽  
Standard Definition ◽  
Sociology Of Professions ◽  
Citizen Initiatives ◽  
Definition Of

It is important to include civil society in the purview of the sociology of professions because many professionals and professions interact not just with the state and the market but also with civil society actors. Moreover, members of professions engage in civic action and political activism not just as citizens or single professionals but also as the (founding or regular) members of their professional associations. They also establish think-tanks, research and counseling centres, consortia, and on occasion even citizen initiatives or social movements. Professional life can be explored more comprehensively when these professional interactions and activities are included in the analysis. The text provides a standard definition of professions, argues for considering professions’ role in civil society, defines civil society, and draws on US research on civic and political lawyering to buttress its arguments. Some examples from other professions are also offered.

scholarly journals Think Tanks: New Organizational Actors in a Changing Swedish Civil Society

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pelle Åberg ◽  
Stefan Einarsson ◽  
Marta Reuter
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Think Tanks ◽  
Institutional Policy ◽  
Interest Representation ◽  
Institutional Settings ◽  
The Usa ◽  
New Type

AbstractPolicy institutes, or “think tanks”, are becoming increasingly ubiquitous in our societies. In this article, we conceptualize think tanks explicitly as a civil society phenomenon, linking the proliferation of this relatively new type of actor to the transformation of civil society structures and of systems of interest representation. Using the case of Sweden as an illustration, we argue that the recent decades’ rise of think tanks in institutional settings outside of the USA can only be understood if we take into account the particular features and institutional policy access opportunities of the domestic civil society in each national case, and that think tanks should be analytically understood as the allies of, rather than competitors to, the older, established forces in civil society.

scholarly journals Organizational Identity of Think Tank(er)s: A Growing Elite Group in Swedish Civil Society

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 142-151 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pelle Åberg ◽  
Stefan Einarsson ◽  
Marta Reuter
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Policy Research ◽  
Large Mass ◽  
Think Tanks ◽  
Shared Understanding ◽  
Think Tank ◽  
Policy Actor ◽  
Policy System ◽  
Elite Group ◽  
Movement Organizations

Think tanks, defined as organizations that produce policy research for political purposes (McGann, 2007; Medvetz, 2008), are an increasingly ubiquitous type of policy actor world-wide. In Sweden, the last 20 years’ sharp increase in think tank numbers (Åberg, Einarsson, & Reuter, 2019) has coincided with the decline of the traditional Swedish corporatist model based on the intimate involvement of the so-called ‘popular movements’ in policy-making (Lundberg, 2014; Micheletti, 1995). Contrary to the large, mass-membership based and democratically organized movement organizations, think tanks are small, professionalized, expert-based, and seldom represent any larger membership base. Their increasingly important role as the ideological greenhouses in Swedish civil society might, therefore, be interpreted as an indication of an increasingly elitist and professionalized character of the latter. But what is a think tank? The article explores how a shared understanding of what constitutes a think tank is constructed by think-tankers themselves. In the study, interviewed think tank executives and top-level staff reflect upon their own organizations’ missions and place in the Swedish policy system.

scholarly journals Three Types of Denial: Think Tanks as a Reluctant Civil Society Elite

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 152-161 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Jezierska
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Identity Formation ◽  
Educational Level ◽  
Political Influence ◽  
Think Tanks ◽  
Civil Society Organizations ◽  
Social Analysis ◽  
Think Tank ◽  
Unique Role ◽  
One Step

Think tanks, or policy advice institutions, are civil society organizations producing and delivering social analysis to policymakers and the wider public. Their aim is to influence policy in a given direction. Compared to most other civil society organizations, they hold relatively privileged positions, both in terms of wealth (on average bigger budgets and staffs), political influence (their very raison d’être), knowledge (educational level of the staff), and social networks. Thus, it seems beyond dispute that think tanks adhere to the elite of civil society. This article focuses on think tanks’ negative self-identification, on their reluctance to accept labels. Not only are think tanks unwilling to take on the elite designation, some of them also deny being part of civil society, and some go one step further in denying identification with the think tank community. These multiple denials are expected if we recall Pierre Bourdieu’s observation that “all aristocracies define themselves as being beyond all definition” (Bourdieu, 1996, p. 316). The analysis focuses on how this definitional ambiguity is discursively constructed. Think-tankers are often described as situated in an interstitial space between such fields as politics, civil society, media, market, and academia. While this intermediary position is the source of their unique role as converters of various forms of capital, it also complicates the identity formation of think tanks. The argument is illustrated by Polish think tanks and the data consists of original interviews with think tank leaders. The article provides a novel perspective on think tanks and on civil society elites.

scholarly journals Think Tanks in Nepal: Emergence and Growth

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 17-20
Author(s):  
Birendra Prasad Shah
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Basic Research ◽  
Think Tanks ◽  
Private Institutions ◽  
Think Tank ◽  
Government Investment ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The Public ◽  
Language Form ◽  
Research Activities

Think tank is bridging gap among academic and policy making communities, states and civil society to serve in the public interest as independent voices that translate applied and basic research into a language, form that is understandable, reliable, and accessible for policy makers and the public. Hence, Nepal is officially far from it. Although, practices in Nepal is very limited as well as narrow ideas, thinking, and approaches to sake prosperities of divergent Nepali societies and cultures. Government investment is very poor in these works. However, newly opened universities, private institutions and NGOs are work like as hybrid, are engaged in educational research activities. Over the last 10-15 years, governments, and civil society have come to rely on it, and this trend will continue to input better future of Nepal.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/av.v4i0.12351Academic Voices Vol.4 2014: 17-20

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