Do think tanks matter? : assessing the impact of public policy institutes / Donald E. Abelson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Abelson, Donald E.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Policy sciences.

Research institutes--United States.

Research institutes.

Research institutes--Canada.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (265 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Montreal ; Ithaca, N.Y. : McGill-Queen's University Press, c2002.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Do Think Tanks Matter? evaluates the influence and relevance of public policy institutes in today's political arena. 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. This perception has been reinforced by directors of think tanks, who often credit their institutes with influencing major policy debates and government legislation. Yet the basic question of how and in what way they influence public policy has, Donald Abelson contends, frequently been ignored. Abelson studies the experiences of think tanks in the United States, where they have become an integral feature of the political landscape, and in Canada, where their numbers have grown considerably in recent years but where, compared to their U.S. counterparts, they enjoy less prominence in policy-making. By focusing on the policy cycle, issue articulation (that is, getting issues on the political agenda) and policy formation and implementation (actually affecting the outcome of policies already on the political agenda), he argues that 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.

Contents:

Front Matter

Contents

Tables

Acknowledgments

Acronyms

Introduction

Surveying the Think Tank Landscape in the United States and Canada

Thinking about Think Tanks: A Conceptual Framework

In the Arena: Opportunities, Constraints, and Incentives for Think Tanks in the United States and Canada

Competing in the Marketplace of Ideas: The Strategies of Think Tanks

Public Visibility and Policy Relevance: Assessing the Influence of Think Tanks

On the Road to the White House: Presidential Candidates and the Think Tanks That Advised Them

Policy Experts or Policy Instruments? Think Tanks and the Debate over Constitutional Reform in Canada

Conclusion: Policy Influence, Policy Relevance, and the Future of Think Tanks in Canada, the United States, and Beyond

A Profile of Selected American Think Tanks

A Profile of Selected Canadian Think Tanks

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. [221]-246) and index.

ISBN:

0-7735-6990-1

OCLC:

180773114