The Role of Think Tanks in the Modernisation of the SPD.

This article analyses the relationship between the activities of think tanks and the development of the party-programmatic discourse of the German Social Democratic Party (SPD). It addresses the years between 1994 and 2005 during which the SPD underwent a programmatic revision resulting in the adaptation of 'Third Way' Social Democracy. Description and analysis of the interaction of the various policy field stakeholders establish what it is that a number of specific think tanks did and whether what they did was policy-relevant. The study, based on interviews with relevant stakeholders and document analysis, comes to the conclusion that a number of think tanks contributed to the process of bringing about significant change in policy objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]