Do Think Tanks Matter?, Second Edition: Assessing the Impact of Public Policy Institutes

by Donald E. Abelson

Overview

It 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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780773580381
Publisher:	McGill-Queens University Press
Publication date:	09/01/2009
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	7 MB

About the Author

Donald E. Abelson, professor and chair, Department of Political Science, and director, Centre for American Studies, The University of Western Ontario, is the author of A Capitol Idea: Think Tanks and U.S. Foreign Policy.
Donald E. Abelson is academic director of the Wilson College of Leadership and Civic Engagement and professor of political science at McMaster University.

Table of Contents

	Tables	ix
	Acknowledgments	xi
	Acronyms	xiii
	Introduction	3
1	Surveying the Think Tank Landscape in the United States and Canada	17
2	Thinking about Think Tanks: A Conceptual Framework	49
3	In the Arena: Opportunities, Constraints, and Incentives for Think Tanks in the United States and Canada	58
4	Competing in the Marketplace of Ideas: The Strategies of Think Tanks	74
5	Public Visibility and Policy Relevance: Assessing the Influence of Think Tanks	88
6	On the Road to the White House: Presidential Candidates and the Think Tanks That Advised Them	123
7	Policy Experts or Policy Instruments? Think Tanks and the Debate over Constitutional Reform in Canada	144
8	Conclusion: Policy Influence, Policy Relevance, and the Future of Think Tanks in Canada, the United States, and Beyond	162
Appendix 1	A Profile of Selected American Think Tanks	173
Appendix 2	A Profile of Selected Canadian Think Tanks	183
	Notes	193
	Bibliography	221
	Index	247

Editorial Reviews

"An important contribution to a body of literature that is increasingly recognised in the social sciences as an undeveloped field and worthy of more extensive investigation. Abelson's comparative insights will have wider significance in drawing attention to how think tanks find different points of access within the policy cycles. He provides extensive coverage of the issues, concerns, and debates confronted by think tank directors, their funders, and their users, and provides the most up-to-date account of the literature." Diane Stone, Politics and International Studies, University of Warwick----"Well-written and lucid ... this is a seminal contribution to the field. Abelson has a sophisticated and up-to-date understanding of the literature and the phenomena that he studies." Evert Lindquist, School of Public Administration, University of Victoria

From the Publisher