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Copyright of Yearbook of European Integration / Rocznik Integracji Europejskiej is the property of Faculty of Political Science & Journalism, Adam Mickiewicz University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article considers how before and after the Tories came to power in 1979, The Times and the Daily and Sunday Telegraph consistently propagated ideas emanating from the free-market think-tank the Institute of Economic Affairs. It argues that this was part of a wider process in which the post-war Keynesian consensus came under fire from sections of both the media and the political class, and heralded an era in which neo-liberal ideas would come to constitute a new form of economic 'common sense'. Given the dominance of this perspective, most of the mainstream media failed to anticipate the 2008 financial crisis and have repeatedly endorsed austerity as the only means of reducing the ensuing deficit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article investigates why Georgian and Moldovan think-tanks have not emulated effective forms of advocacy in relations with the EU that their Ukrainian counterparts have established, namely a liaison office in Brussels. The reason is not the cost but rather the presence of alternative communication channels, high-level personal contacts and think-tanks' focus on organizational survival. Better connectivity and new means of communication make the presence of a Brussels hub less crucial for regional think-tanks. Our research shows that there is often limited collaboration amongst think-tanks at the national level, which negatively affects opportunities for transnational advocacy of Eastern Partnership (EaP) think-tanks in relations with EU institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reviews the ideology, guidelines, and policies of the Communist Party of China (CPC) on think-tanks and especially focuses on analysing Xi Jinping's policies towards them since the 18th Party Congress in 2012. Observing both the CPC's directives and the activities of some important think-tanks, this article finds that the relationship between the CPC and think-tanks in China has gotten increasingly closer. The closeness is reflected in indicators such as the CPC's promulgation of the policy to build 'a new type' of think-tank, increasing reliance on and appreciation for the advice of think-tanks, funding for official think-tanks, and frequent emphasis on the absolute leadership of the CPC over them. This is a typical model of the corporatism between the CPC and the state, market and social organisation in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Carta Internacional is the property of Associacao Brasileira de Relacoes Internacionais and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

There is a widespread view that the 'rise of neo-liberalism' was a deliberate and designed phenomenon, brought about by ideologically motivated actors. Think-tanks such as the Institute of Economic Affairs are thought to be a key vehicle in this story. The history of the IEA shows that the reality was of a much more messy and unplanned process in which successes resulted from contingent events as well as academic quality and were in any case limited in scope. The early publications of the IEA had limited goals and did not spell out a complete alternative to the post-war consensus. The breakthrough occurred because of a specific crisis in public policy in the early 1970s and owed as much to politicians as intellectuals. The other aspect of this was a move in intellectual influences from the LSE to American institutions, above all Chicago and George Mason Universities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last decades privatization policies have taken centre stage in many processes of educational reform globally. In Latin America, these policies have played an important role since the 1990s leading to an increasing participation of private agents in educational provision. The case of Uruguay stands out for having remained somehow apart from this privatization agenda. More recently, however, research has identified a significant shift in the discursive order especially driven by a series of new actors including think tanks and civil society organizations favourable to different forms of privatization. Building on case study methods and informed by a cultural political economy (CPE) approach this paper addresses two purposes. First, it attempts to explore possible explanations for the scarce development of the private sector in Uruguayan education. Second, it aims to characterize the discourses and strategies increasingly used by different actors to frame and promote policy ideas potentially leading to privatization policies. The study shows how a small but influential number of actors have become involved in the process of promoting ideas that seek to influence policymaking. Findings reveal how these actors frame school autonomy and accountability as policy solutions by means of different strategies of networking and knowledge mobilization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper describes the modern history of international relations based on the liberalism-constructivism approach. The main goal is to decrease the importance of the state in international relations and to point out the importance of a number of other actors that influence communication in international relations (multinational companies, non-state actors, new social movements, media, etc.). Such expansion is also of importance for the Czechoslovak and West German relations in the 1950s and 1960s. At that time, official diplomatic relations did not exist, therefore the communication transpired via these non-state actors. Scientific workplaces focusing on the area of international relations played a key role in this process, namely the Czechoslovak Ústav pro mezinárodní politiku a ekonomii and the West German Deutsche Gesellschaft für Auswärtige Politik. However even these scientific institutions were influenced by the ideological and institutional settings of each respective country. The Ústav pro mezinárodní politiku a ekonomii in many aspects simply repeated propaganda statements of the Communist government towards West Germany. Due to its own activities aimed at the Czechoslovak and West German relations in the 1960s and the effort to gain a more independent position, it was disbanded in early 1970s. A new workplace was created instead, which was once again fully subordinate to the Communist party. On the other hand, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Auswärtige Politik represents a modern think-tank created in the Anglo-Saxon world. In many propositions, the analysis formed their own, independent stances that often contradicted the official views of the West German government.

Intellectual strategies change in response to broader socio-political transformations of the world and the development of new means of communication. In today's complex and fragmented intellectual landscape, public intellectuals perform various functions and conceive different strategies. As traditional public intellectuals are finding it much harder to argue with authority, thought leaders, or new for-profit thinkers linked to ideologically driven think tanks, are getting new visibility. Yet another group, the 'new intellectuals', who in contrast to traditional public intellectuals housed at the university are detached from its institutional structures, contributes to the non-academic culture of criticism of neo-liberalism. As these three groups are not engaged in meaningful conversations, a work on the restoration of the severed links between wonder at the world and the imagination to think beyond the present is neglected. In the hope that all three groups of today's intellectuals, despite their different values and styles, can still place curiosity at the core of their strategies, this paper argues that primarily it should be a task of the traditional public intellectual to awaken people's awareness of a common future. It concludes that to re-empower the traditional public intellectual, there is a need to prevent modern universities from becoming places with little room for curiosity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of centenary anniversaries for some of the original think-tanks, as well as increasing turbulence in domestic and international affairs, makes this a propitious time to review the role of think-tanks in helping to build a sustainably secure, prosperous and just world. Today, western think-tanks, in particular, face a number of challenges to their relevance and credibility. It remains to be seen whether they can rediscover a sense of purpose that is fit for the twenty-first century, at a time when the pillars of the western-led international order that mobilized their counterparts early in the twentieth century are eroding. To do so, I propose five practical steps that all think-tanks can take to adapt to these demands and challenges. I also suggest a set of principles that both western think-tanks and their counterparts in other parts of the world should commit to if they want to work together to promote the sort of peaceful and cooperative world that lies at the core of their stated missions. At heart, leading think-tanks must consider whether it suffices to try to remain sources of objective debate and analysis, or if it is time, once again, for them to adopt a more proactive stance, being explicit about the principles that they believe should underpin peace and prosperity. If independent think-tanks work together around converging principles, then they can contribute to the emergence for the first time of an inclusive international society and thus confirm their normative as well as practical value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Think-tanks and their researchers are located within an interstitial and ill-defined ‘space between fields’; a space both constituted and divided by the worlds of academia, politics, journalism and business. This liminal position can be problematic for a think-tank researcher’s intellectual credibility as they lack the recognised cultural and symbolic capital derived from being located within an established profession’s jurisdiction. The question arises, how do think-tanks gain intellectual credibility? Drawing on interviews with think-tank researchers, this paper explores how these interstitial intellectuals produce policy reports. In following this process, we find that credibility emerges from a complex web of relationships across established fields/professions. Think-tank researchers must engage in a complex ‘dance’ of positioning the symbols, capitals and interests of a number of professions. To maintain their integrity, researchers must try to keep in step with competing interests from different professions; at times aligning them, at other times blocking or obscuring them from one another. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper describes the modern history of international relations based on the liberalism-constructivism approach. The main goal is to decrease the importance of the state in international relations and to point out the importance of a number of other actors that influence communication in international relations (multinational companies, non-state actors, new social movements, media, etc.). Such expansion is also of importance for the Czechoslovak and West German relations in the 1950s and 1960s. At that time, official diplomatic relations did not exist, therefore the communication transpired via these non-state actors. Scientific workplaces focusing on the area of international relations played a key role in this process, namely the Czechoslovak Ústav pro mezinárodní politiku a ekonomii and the West German Deutsche Gesellschaft für Auswärtige Politik. However even these scientific institutions were influenced by the ideological and institutional settings of each respective country. The Ústav pro mezinárodní politiku a ekonomii in many aspects simply repeated propaganda statements of the Communist government towards West Germany. Due to its own activities aimed at the Czechoslovak and West German relations in the 1960s and the effort to gain a more independent position, it was disbanded in early 1970s. A new workplace was created instead, which was once again fully subordinate to the Communist party. On the other hand, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Auswärtige Politik represents a modern think-tank created in the Anglo-Saxon world. In many propositions, the analysis formed their own, independent stances that often contradicted the official views of the West German government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The context of contemporary universities restrains their ability to drive public policy. Yet, currently, they confront the relative success of a global network of neoliberal institutes, referred to as think-tanks, promoting freedoms derived from particular ideologies. Neoliberal reasoning has so moulded classical ideas of individual freedom into a radical hegemony of market supremacy that, in one application, it discounts scientific acknowledgement of anthropogenic climate charge and seeks to deny its existence. This article links think-tanks, commercial and government media within a neoliberal alliance, which aims to 'balance' public information through ideological promulgations. It further contends that, largely of their own making, universities lack the philosophical positioning, will and the organisation effectively to meet this challenge. Situational analysis, strategy formulation and changes to practice are required before any meaningful response can be contemplated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Australia, education think tanks have become increasingly influential in policy circles through 'reports' to government, and in public debate through the mainstream media. Invariably think-tanks draw on educational research to lend authority and legitimacy to their work. This is desirable if the research deepens understandings about important educational issues. However, it can be dangerous if it is enlisted to serve a specific ideology. This paper takes a case study of an avowedly conservative think-tank in Australia-the Education Standards Institute (ESI)-to explore the ways in which research is (mis)used in the service of a particular ideology in the public sphere. To sharpen the case study, the paper focuses on a contemporary policy issue in Australia-Independent Public Schools. It is argued that over a prolonged period of time the ESI Director has argued for an extreme version of school autonomy which goes far beyond anything which has yet been proposed by policy-makers in Australia. In so doing he uses the imprimatur of research evidence to substantiate his claims. The paper explores the many flaws in the ways in which educational research is employed to bolster the case. Education research should play a central role in informing public discussions and debates about education policy. It should not be used as a front for sloganeering for particular ideologies, and educational researchers have an important role to play in pointing this out. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non-government actors such as think-tanks are playing an important role in Australian policy work. As governments increasingly outsource policy work previously done by education departments and academics to these new policy actors, more think-tanks have emerged that represent a wide range of political views and ideological positions. This paper looks at the emergence of the Grattan Institute as one significant player in Australian education policy with a particular emphasis on Grattan's report 'Turning around low-performing schools'. Grattan exemplifies many of the facets of Barber's 'deliverology', as they produce reports designed to be easily digested, simply actioned and provide reassurance that there is an answer, often through focusing on 'what works' recipes. 'Turning around low-performing schools' is a perfect example of this deliverology. However, a close analysis of the Report suggests that it contains four major problems which seriously impact its usefulness for schools and policymakers: it ignores data that may be more important in explaining the turn-around of schools, the Report is overly reliant on NAPLAN data, there are reasons to be suspicious about the evidence assembled, and finally the Report falls into a classic trap of logic-the post hoc fallacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revue du Monde Musulman et de la Méditerrannée is the property of Edisud and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article looks at UK-based think-tanks and their communicative and cooperative networks with other actors in Britain and beyond. Which institutions and people do British think-tanks talk to most to exert influence on domestic public policy? What forms do such communications take? What are British think-tanks' objectives for cooperation with non- UK organisations? This article is based on a survey with analysts at British think-tanks that was conducted in 2012. The data suggests that while British think-tanks communicate and co-operate intensively with some actors within Britain, contacts and cooperation with organisations outside the UK are rather lacklustre. Particular actors are more important for advocacy think-tanks than they are for academic think-tanks; some actors have very little importance for either type. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Peace-building situations can be described as battlefields of ideas where key international policy makers engage in internal battles for control over intervention policy. Knowledge production, based on timely information and analysis, is seen as crucial to winning these battles of ideas. By providing detailed information, analysis and recommendations, the International Crisis Group (icg) has assumed an important role in this process. Yet we know little about the specific role the icg plays in battles for intervention policy. This article investigates icg analyses and recommendations and the way they fit into the specific internal debates within the international community in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) in 2000–01. By looking at the work of the icg in BiH around the elections in 2000, the article demonstrates that it often acted as a legitimising agent of US positions and policy in the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the participation of ‘third-sector’ organisations in public education in England. These organisations act as a cross-sectoral policy network made up of new kinds of policy experts: mediators and brokers with entrepreneurial careers in ideas. They have sought to make education reform thinkable, intelligible and practicable in terms of a computational discourse consisting of code, networks, interactivity and feedback, and related ideas of decentralisation, open methods and personalisation. What characterises this style of thinking is an ‘anti-political’ preoccupation with computer-coded systems and the idea of networks as a model for new political and educational forms. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The study of how ideas and discourse evolve within international organizations is one of the most important frontiers of global social policy theory. Setting forth an ideational approach to understanding their behavior, the article argues that international organizations are more open systems than most realists and structuralists believe. Their constantly evolving discourse and ideas can directly impact domestic policy. In order to stress this reality, drawing on the case of pension privatization, the article compares these organizations with ideologically driven domestic think tanks which, as far as pension privatization is concerned, have proved much more rigid in their policy prescriptions than the World Bank and other international organizations traditionally associated with the global pension privatization campaign. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the controversies on the meeting of members of the Creation of the Russian Council on International Affairs (RCIA) on July 2011. Topics discussed include corporations including the German Council on Foreign Relations founded by its specifics, the French Institute of International Relations, the Britain's Chatham House known for its research and analysis, and the European Council on Foreign Relations which was funded by the state structures of the European Council member.

This article revisits the discussion about what a think-tank is, what it does and how it does what it does. The article argues that the definition of what constitutes a think-tank should focus on the functions that it fulfils and not so much on the organizational form, as is the case with dominant perspectives. The article offers a revised think-tank definition and, as a second step, discusses a Gramsci-inspired critical approach to understanding the function of think-tanks and, third, adopts Marten Hajer’s discourse coalition concept to explain how think-tanks became effective as state-external agents of change. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Holding the EU Council Presidency presented the Czech Republic with an unprecedented opportunity to leave its imprint on, among others, EU foreign policy making by co-shaping the EU's political agenda. Due to the predominantly intergovernmental character of EU foreign policy, understanding its initial step, namely domestic foreign policy preference formation, becomes crucial. Consequently, in a liberal intergovernmentalist fashion, this article studies whether non-state actors, namely non-governmental organizations and thinktanks, entered the process of preference formation in the Czech Republic in the period preceding the Presidency and during the Presidency itself. Alternatively, it studies whether the lack of access points at the national administration level results in an elitist, government- driven foreign policy preference formation. Based on two empirical case studies - on the Eastern Partnership initiative and EU energy security - this study finds that certain Czech non-state actors are more than only passive bystanders, as they use both (semi-)institutionalized and ad-hoc access points to advocate their own interests and agendas at the state level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Academic writing on 'terrorism' and the availability to the mainstream media and policy-makers of terror 'experts' have increased exponentially since 11 September 2001. This paper examines the rise of terror expertise and its use in one particular public arena - the mainstream news media. Using a combination of citation analysis and media analysis, the paper presents a ranking of the most influential terror experts in the mainstream news media in the Anglophone world. It is shown how what has been called an 'invisible college' of experts operates as a nexus of interests connecting academia with military, intelligence and government agencies, with the security industry and the media. The paper then takes a small number of case studies of some of the most prominent experts who exemplify the dominant trend in the field and examines the networks in which they are embedded. The last part of the paper uses the data generated to re-examine theories of 'terrorism' and the media, of 'propaganda' and 'terrorism', and of 'source-media' relations. It is suggested that the study of terror experts shows the need to study and theorise the media in a wider context by focusing on the relations between media content and production processes and wider formations of power. In so doing, the paper attempts to connect studies of media and terrorism to wider studies of terror and political violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three challenges face development studies and development studies institutions—the three ‘C's’. The first ‘C’ is coverage: making sure that the sector has sufficient coverage of new topics. The second ‘C’ is capacities: recognising that growth in the number and strength of developing country institutions requires developed country institutions to re-think their role. The third ‘C’ is communications: using new technology to deliver policy messages faster and more effectively. With the geographical scope of the development studies ‘industry’ also changing, as more countries reach middle income status, change management becomes a high priority. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Zeitschrift für Politikberatung is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Colección is the property of Pontificia Universidad Catolica Argentina and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Objective: The study aimed to examine impact of think-tanks designed to create policies for emerging threats on medical teams' perceptions of individual and systemic emergency preparedness., Methods: Multi-professional think-tanks were established to design policies for potential attacks on civilian communities. In total, 59 multi-sector health care managers participated in think-tanks focused on: (a) primary care services in risk zones; (b) hospital care; (c) casualty evacuation policies; (d) medical services to special-needs populations; and (e) services in a "temporary military-closed zone." Participants rotated systematically between think-tanks. Perceived individual and systemic emergency preparedness was reviewed pre-post participation in think-tanks., Results: A significant increase in perceived emergency preparedness pre-post-think-tanks was found in 8/10 elements including in perceived individual role proficiency (3.71±0.67 vs 4.60±0.53, respectively; P<0.001) and confidence in colleagues' proficiency during crisis (3.56±0.75 vs 4.37±0.61, respectively; P<0.001). Individual preparedness and role perception correlates with systemic preparedness and proficiency in risk assessment., Conclusions: Participation in policy-making impacts on individuals' perceptions of empowerment including trust in colleagues' capacities, but does not increase confidence in a system's preparedness. Field and managerial officials should be involved in policy-making processes, as a means to empower health care managers and improve interfaces and self-efficacy that are relevant to preparedness and response for crises. (Disaster Med Public Health Prepardness. 2019;13:152-157).

Born out of a revolution that tried to erase part of the ottoman cultural and political heritage, the Turkish Republic enrolled sciences, among which social sciences, and submitted them to its national and nationalist project. Starting in the 1990’s, after decades of isolationism, these policy-oriented sciences began to feed the debate and hereby contributed to legitimize Turkish rulers’ neo-ottoman expansionist ambitions towards the Arab Middle East. From the social science sector then emerge networks of experts discussing Turkish national foreign policy. While North-African revolutions offer a new opportunity to experts to promote the «Turkish Model », the Syrian civil war and its consequences on Turkey’s national politics, intensify the field’s ideological polarization and seems to trigger a kind of empowerment of social scientists from the political sphere.