Do Think Tanks Matter?: Assessing the Impact of Public Policy InstitutesIt is often assumed that think tanks carry enormous weight with lawmakers. In Do Think Tanks Matter? Donald Abelson argues that the basic question of how think tanks have evolved and under what conditions they can and do have an effect is consistently ignored. Think tank directors often credit their institutes with influencing major policy debates and government legislation and many journalists and scholars believe the explosion of think tanks in the latter part of the twentieth century indicates their growing importance in the policy-making process. Abelson goes beyond assumptions, identifying the influence and relevance of public policy institutes in today's political arena in the United States, where they've become an integral feature of the political landscape, and in Canada, where, despite recent growth in numbers, they enjoy less prominence than their US counterparts. By focusing on the policy cycle, issue articulation, policy formation, and implementation, Abelson argues that individual think tanks have sometimes played an important role in shaping the political dialogue and the policy preferences and choices of decision-makers but often in different ways and at different stages of the policy cycle. This revised and updated edition of the book includes up-to-date data (2000-08) on the growing visibility and policy relevance of think tanks in Canada and the United States. |
Contents
3 | |
Surveying the Think Tank Landscape in the United States | 17 |
A Conceptual Framework | 49 |
Opportunities Constraints and Incentives for Think | 61 |
The Strategies of Think | 77 |
Assessing the Influence | 92 |
Presidential Candidates and | 127 |
Policy Experts or Policy Instruments? Think Tanks and the Debate | 150 |
References to Selected American Think Tanks on American Television | 204 |
References to Selected American Think Tanks in National Magazines | 217 |
Media Citations for Selected Canadian Think Tanks | 227 |
Media Citations for Selected Canadian Think Tanks radio television | 228 |
Newspaper Citations for Selected Canadian Think Tanks | 242 |
Comparison of Annual Budget to Number of References in | 258 |
References to Selected Think Tanks in Parliamentary | 263 |
Notes | 279 |
Other editions - View all
Do Think Tanks Matter?: Assessing the Impact of Public Policy Institutes Donald E. Abelson No preview available - 2009 |
Do Think Tanks Matter?: Assessing the Impact of Public Policy Institutes Donald E. Abelson No preview available - 2009 |
Common terms and phrases
Abelson advisers Affairs American Enterprise Institute American Think Tanks Annual appear become Board of Canada Brookings Institution budget C.D. Howe Institute Caledon Institute campaign Canada West Foundation Canadian Centre Canadian Council Canadian Institute Canadian Think Tanks candidates Carnegie Endowment Carter Centre for Policy chapter close Commission Committee Conference Board Congress Conservative constitutional created departments Development director discussion Economic established experts federal Figure Following foreign policy former Fraser Institute funding Heritage Foundation Hoover Institution House ideas impact important influence Institute for Research interest International Peace International Studies issues majority million Networks Newspapers organizations Ottawa Parliament Parliament Parliament Parliamentary Policy Institute Policy Research policy-making political President presidential Progressive Public Policy rand Reagan References to Selected Relations Report Research on Public role scholars Security Selected American Think Senate Session Social staff Studies Table United University Urban Institute visibility Washington