There are various institutions on the Old continent which employ highly educated people to think about our societies and to study social, political, economic and environmental issues. Traditionally, universities and later academies of science and research institutes, attracted smart people whose role was to develop new thinking about human affairs and to explain to power-holders and the public what is really going on in our societies and what is likely to happen in the future.
Many of these institutions, universities in particular, became the model for the New continent, which eventually turned them into centers of excellence with global significance. In return, the dynamic and entrepreneurial United States invented a specific type of policy institution which, in recent decades has started to take root and grow in significance in Europe.
In the 1950s the Americans labeled these entities with a strange but catchy name which is difficult to translate into other languages. They called them “think tanks”. Today there are hundreds of them on both sides of the Atlantic and they play an important role in shaping policies in Europe, America and beyond. European policymakers can hardly overlook their activities. Sometimes, think tanks are viewed as helpful allies, sometimes as problematic critics who not only have the capacity to see deeply into the decision-making arena, but can also raise the profile of a particular issue, reach out to a broader public and have an influence on policy.
Think tanks are mostly small or mid-sized, independent institutions whose purpose is to study and analyze policies, generate new ideas and data, stimulate expert and public debate, advocate for particular socio-political changes, and educate a specific audience about a policy idea or issue. They are a quintessential outgrowth of modern, democratic and open societies, though they do sometimes have a presence in more closed and restrictive political environments.
“Think-tankers” are often well-known experts from a variety of backgrounds - political scientists, sociologists, journalists, economists, lawyers, historians, foreign policy and military experts, environmentalists etc. Whatever their backgrounds they are united by having strong analytical capacities and the ambition to have an impact on public policy. Frequently they bring with them practical experience from the governmental and diplomatic services or from the world of management and media. This gives them an advantage in understanding the practical aspects of policy making and policy shaping. This also makes them different from the universities whose primary role is to teach and conduct research. From my own experience, I can attest that one of the last things a think tank wants to hear from a potential donor is that one’s proposal is “too academic”. What this means is that the donor is unconvinced that a prospective project could have an impact on policy.
One can hardly imagine a more challenging policy making process than that which engages the most complex and largest union of states in the world – the European Union. The EU, comprising half a billion inhabitants and currently made up of twenty seven member states with the prospect of more to follow, allows multiple public and private actors to participate in the debate about its internal and external policies. Among the most visible and effective private players contributing to the EU policy discussion are the think tanks. They do not merely have a presence in the old member states. They have quickly become an indispensible and important part of civil society in all of the newly democratic countries of Central and Eastern Europe, of which ten have already joined the EU.
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Pavol Demeš is the Director of the German Marshall Fund's Bratislava office.
Related Material on Atlantic Community:
- John Dalziel Frew: Globalized Decision-Making Demands New Acting Styles
- André Budick: Frankenstein's Monster and the Law of the Eternal Compromise
- Fabian Krohn: The European Union: A Quiet Superpower in the Making
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January 15, 2010
Member deleted
But they do respect think tanks in the US. For example, AEI (American Enterprise Institute), which, in previous US administration, wrote short articles demanding all kinds of things around the world and were respected. Probably because those demands made often became US government demands, as was observed.
Now then, the new US administration has set the tone for the future, understandably different from that of the previous administration, the respect for those like AEI will diminish as expected, and not on the watch list any longer.
It is really debatable who should lead, by public think tanks or by private think tanks or both. That probably should be decided by the governments on a variety of issues.