The Role of Research Centers in Supporting Public Policy


Book Description

With the myriad of challenges facing the modern world and the responsibility to urgently address these issues, research centers have an increasingly important role to play. In general, research centers are specialized institutions that rely on the professional and intellectual expertise of academics in the proposal and setting of policies. Hence, these institutions are the driving forces that reap such expertise for decision makers in the name of public service. As highlighted in this volume, modern governments must therefore seek to recruit the top specialists in order to proficiently and accurately assess the options and situations at hand and to formulate policies accordingly. This collection of scholarly papers provides a comprehensive overview of some of the issues surrounding the functions of research centers in the current world. One of these is how research centers can assist Gulf countries in promoting security in the region. With the continued threats of terrorism, sectarianism and counterinsurgency, the book suggests how these issues can be analyzed, in order to better understand their intricate nature, and then be countered through balanced efforts that ensure that these endeavors do not aggravate the problems. The book also examines the work of research centers in various countries and their invaluable efforts to inform decision makers and grasp the agendas, challenges and fundamental aspects of an issue at hand, while addressing geopolitical issues and uncovering the most pertinent data amidst an influx of information. Finally, the book looks at the present and future of research centers in Arab countries, and suggests methods of work to rid the negative image of the future in the Arab mind, while helping reform the education, scientific research and the academic systems.




Think Tanks and Civil Societies


Book Description

Government and individual policymakers throughout the developed and developing world face the common problem of bringing expert knowledge to bear in government decision making. Policymakers need understandable, reliable, accessible, and useful information about the societies they govern. They also need to know how current policies are working, as well as possible alternatives and their likely costs and consequences. This expanding need has fostered the growth of independent public policy research organizations, commonly known as think tanks. Think Tanks and Civil Societies analyzes their growth, scope, and constraints, while providing institutional profiles of such organizations in every region of the world.Beginning with North America, contributors analyze think tank development past and future, consider their relationship to the general political culture, and provide detailed looks at such examples as the Heritage Foundation and the Institute for Research on Public Policy. A historical and subregional overview of think tanks throughout Europe notes the emphasis on European Union issues and points to a dramatic rise in the number and influence of free market institutes across the continent. Think tanks in Germany, Spain, and France are profiled with respect to national politics and cultures. Advanced industrial nations of northern Asia are compared and contrasted, revealing a greater need for independent policy voices. Moving to countries undergoing economic transition, contributors deal with challenges posed in Russia and the former Soviet bloc and their think tanks' search for influence, independence, and sustainability. Other chapters deal with the developing countries of Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America, finding that the number, quality, and independence of think tanks is largely determined by the degree of democracy in individual nations.




The Military-Industrial Complex and American Society


Book Description

The first complete reference on the military-industrial complex, from its Cold War era expansion to the present. The Military-Industrial Complex and American Society addresses the broad subject of the political economy of defense research and its wide-reaching effects on many aspects of American life. Ranging from the massive arms buildup of the Cold War to the influx of private contractors and corporations such as Halliburton, it reveals the interconnectedness of the military, industry, and government within the history of this public/private enterprise. The Military-Industrial Complex and American Society offers over 100 alphabetically organized entries on a wide of range of significant research bodies and government agencies, as well as important people, events, and technologies. In addition, a series of essays looks at such essential topics as propaganda, think tanks, defense budgeting, the defense industry and the economy, and the breakdown of the military-industrial complex in Vietnam. With this work, students, policymakers, and other interested readers will understand the ramifications of the relationships between industry, scientific and technological communities, the government, and society.




United Nations, Volumes I and II


Book Description

The International Library of Politics and Comparative Government is an essential reference series which compiles the most significant journal articles in comparative politics over the past 30 years. It makes readily accessible to teachers, researchers and students, an extensive range of essays which, together, provide an indispensable basis for understanding both the established conceptual terrain and the new ground being broken in the rapidly changing field of comparative political analysis. These two volumes include articles which examine the system, the structure, the function and the future of the United Nations.




Think Tanks


Book Description

Think tanks and their researchers provide much needed explanation of foreign policy. Many US Presidents have consulted think tanks for policy advise and for ideological coherence. Indeed, the American Presidents have employed experts from think tanks to serve in senior positions in their government. Policy-makers look for advise to think tanks and their scholars resulting from the decentralisation and fragmentation of the American political system. In a system based on separate branches sharing powers, and one in which policy-makers are not limited by the programs of political parties, think tanks can communicate their ideas through multiple channels to several hundred law-makers. The author examines the war of ideas waged by the neoconservative think tanks against their liberal counterparts.




Global Think Tanks


Book Description

Global Think Tanks provides a clear description of and context for the global proliferation of think tanks. Whilst these institutions are still relatively new players in global and national politics, they are becoming a significant source of strength in an increasingly transnational and less Western-led world. This work presents an important guide to the factors contributing to the proliferation of think tanks, the present nature of this proliferation, and the future of think tanks at the global, regional, and national level. The book: identifies the forces driving these phenomena by addressing some of the historical and current factors that have dominate policy debates around the world attempts to identify the range of existing global think tanks and a representative group of global public policy networks and conduct detailed profiling of these organizations. extrapolate trends in current think tank research that provide a basis for understanding the impact that think tanks have on policy makers identifies and critique the role of global think tanks and global public policy networks in civil society and analyze the challenges and opportunities facing global think tanks and policy networks. seeks to recommend improvements to think tanks and global public policy networks so that they can continue to contribute to global public policy and serve as a catalyst for civic engagement around the world. Examining the issues that face think tanks on a global scale, this book will be of great interest to all students of international relations and international organizations.




Democratization and Market Reform in Developing and Transitional Countries


Book Description

This book explores the pivotal role of think tanks in the democratization and economic reform movements by evaluating their overall effect on the transformation process in developing and transitional countries around the world. James G. McGann assesses twenty-three think tanks, located in nine countries and four regions of the world: Chile, Peru, Poland, Slovakia, South Africa, Botswana, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam, that have most impacted political and economic transitions in their respective countries. The author examines the role they played in the process of democratization and market reform during the late 80s and 90s and identifies the importance of think tanks in these processes by evaluating their overall effect on the policymaking process. He argues in the early stages of a transition from an authoritarian regime to an open and democratic society the activities of think tanks are especially critical, and they have provided a civil society safety net to support these fragile democracies. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of political science, democratization, development, economic development and civil society.




Think Tanks and Global Politics


Book Description

This text provides a cutting edge analysis of the increasingly central role think tanks play in societies worldwide. Examining their control of global resources both in economic and political policy fields and their inroads into structures of power, it addresses key questions. How have think thanks reached these positions of power? Has the northern core produced neoliberal clones that have hydra-like colonised the globe? Who funds and controls these think tanks and for what purpose? How is policy making knowledge created? How are new policy ideas propagated and validated? How do think tanks become dominant sources of knowledge in public spheres including the media? Exploring the dynamics of think tank networks in specific regions and countries, this book considers the coalitions they generate to advance the social purpose they endorse and, in particular, the spaces they occupy in the structures and fields of power at the national, regional and global level.




Do Think Tanks Matter? Third Edition


Book Description

It is often assumed that think tanks carry enormous weight with lawmakers and other key stakeholders. In Do Think Tanks Matter? Donald Abelson argues that the question of how think tanks have evolved and under what conditions they can and do have an impact continues to be 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 since the latter part of the twentieth century is indicative of their growing importance in the policy-making process. Abelson goes beyond assumptions, highlighting both the visibility and relevance of public policy institutes in what has become a contentious and polarized political arena in the United States, and in Canada, where, despite recent growth in numbers, they enjoy less prominence than their US counterparts. By focusing on how think tanks engage in issue articulation, policy formation, and implementation, Abelson argues that they have helped to shape the political dialogue and the policy preferences and choices of decision-makers, but in different ways and at different stages of the policy cycle. This expanded and revised third edition includes additional institutional profiles of key think tanks, an updated chapter on presidents and think tanks, a new chapter on the efforts of a group of public policy institutes to shape the discourse around the possible construction of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, and dozens of new graphs and tables that track the public visibility and perceived policy relevance or impact of top-tier think tanks.