Think Tanks, Foreign Policy and Geo-Politics


Book Description

Questions about the role and influence of think tanks in matters of foreign policy and geopolitics are both timely and important. The reconfiguration of global power, explosion of social media, shifts away from traditional print and oral-based ways of imparting knowledge, and the dramatic increase in the volume of information and ideas clamoring for the attention of policy-makers are changing the landscape of foreign policy-making and the pathways through which influence is achieved. This book explains the impact of think tanks on the framing of domestic and international conversations on matters of foreign policy and geopolitics. An international group of prominent experts examine these issues in specific countries and also across national and regional borders to better understand how governments and actors in civil society are influenced by the activities of think tanks.




Wall Street's Think Tank


Book Description

The Council on Foreign Relations is the most influential foreign-policy think tank in the United States, claiming among its members a high percentage of government officials, media figures, and establishment elite. For decades it kept a low profile even while it shaped policy, advised presidents, and helped shore up U.S. hegemony following the Second World War. In 1977, Laurence H. Shoup and William Minter published the first in-depth study of the CFR, Imperial Brain Trust, an explosive work that traced the activities and influence of the CFR from its origins in the 1920s through the Cold War. Now, Laurence H. Shoup returns with this long-awaited sequel, which brings the story up to date. Wall Street’s Think Tank follows the CFR from the 1970s through the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union to the present. It explains how members responded to rapid changes in the world scene: globalization, the rise of China, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the launch of a “War on Terror,” among other major developments. Shoup argues that the CFR now operates in an era of “Neoliberal Geopolitics,” a worldwide paradigm that its members helped to establish and that reflects the interests of the U.S. ruling class, but is not without challengers. Wall Street’s Think Tank is an essential guide to understanding the Council on Foreign Relations and the shadow it casts over recent history and current events.




Wall Street's Think Tank


Book Description

The Council on Foreign Relations is the most influential foreign-policy think tank in the United States, claiming among its members a high percentage of government officials, media figures, and establishment elite. For decades it kept a low profile even while it shaped policy, advised presidents, and helped shore up U.S. hegemony following the Second World War. In 1977, Laurence H. Shoup and William Minter published the first in-depth study of the CFR, Imperial Brain Trust, an explosive work that traced the activities and influence of the CFR from its origins in the 1920s through the Cold War. Now, Laurence H. Shoup returns with this long-awaited sequel, which brings the story up to date. Wall Street’s Think Tank follows the CFR from the 1970s through the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union to the present. It explains how members responded to rapid changes in the world scene: globalization, the rise of China, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the launch of a “War on Terror,” among other major developments. Shoup argues that the CFR now operates in an era of “Neoliberal Geopolitics,” a worldwide paradigm that its members helped to establish and that reflects the interests of the U.S. ruling class, but is not without challengers. Wall Street’s Think Tank is an essential guide to understanding the Council on Foreign Relations and the shadow it casts over recent history and current events.




Think Tanks, Foreign Policy and the Emerging Powers


Book Description

This book examines changing international dynamics through the lens of some of the leading think tanks from the emerging powers in the world. Through twelve case studies, the authors explore how security and international affairs think tanks in emerging powers collaborate with their policy makers to meet current and anticipate future foreign policy and security challenges. Overall, the book illustrates and analyzes how think tanks in a variety of political and economic contexts are able to contribute to their respective policy-making processes. Included in the discussions are the problems or successes that each respective nation’s think tanks face, where they feel the emerging nation will be positioned, and where they are failing to meet the policy challenges they face. The book provides a comprehensive look at successful foreign policy formulation to serve as examples for other think tanks in similar political and economic conditions.




Think Tanks, Foreign Policy and Geo-Politics


Book Description

Questions about the role and influence of think tanks in matters of foreign policy and geopolitics are both timely and important. The reconfiguration of global power, explosion of social media, shifts away from traditional print and oral-based ways of imparting knowledge, and the dramatic increase in the volume of information and ideas clamoring for the attention of policy-makers are changing the landscape of foreign policy-making and the pathways through which influence is achieved. This book explains the impact of think tanks on the framing of domestic and international conversations on matters of foreign policy and geopolitics. An international group of prominent experts examine these issues in specific countries and also across national and regional borders to better understand how governments and actors in civil society are influenced by the activities of think tanks.




Capitol Idea


Book Description

Abelson focuses on a host of high profile think tanks - including the Brookings Institution, the Heritage Foundation, and the Project for the New American Century - and on the public and private channels they rely on to influence important and controversial foreign policies, including the development and possible deployment of a National Missile Defense and George Bush's controversial war on terror. In the process of uncovering how some of the nation's most prominent think tanks have established themselves as key players in the political arena, he challenges traditional approaches to assessing policy influence and suggests alternative models.




Geopolitics and International Relations


Book Description

Although we live in a globalised world, territorially embedded factors are highly relevant in such domains as security, economy, energy, environment, politics & diplomacy. Today’s analysts of world affairs are often loosely referring to ‘geopolitics’, but do not always clearly define it. This book therefore offers a necessary framework: an introduction into the main components of geopolitical analysis, an overview of the main geopolitical schools of thought, as well as reflections on how technology and geopolitics affect each other in economy, energy and security. In addition, several empirical studies are showcased, each developing innovative approaches. Leading authors reflect upon containment, analyse geopolitical myths, research geoeconomic rivalries, study mental maps, analyse conflict through territorially embedded variables & greed motivations and apply ‘neo-medievalism’ to study sub-state diplomacy. Contributors include: David Criekemans, Gyula Csurgai, Luis da Vinha, Manuel Duran, Alexandre Lambert, Antonios Nestoras, and Steven Spittaels.




Geopolitics in the Era of Globalisation


Book Description

This book presents an alternative roadmap for a world characterised by geopolitical uncertainty. The surging expectations about a future world of democratic values and high economic growth, born out of superpower bonhomie at the end of the Cold War, did not lead to the promised outcomes. Instead we are faced with deeply destabilising challenges, like climate change, widespread state fragility, terrorism, arms race, disruptive newer technologies, global economic volatility, and ineffectiveness of multilateral institutions, old and new. The volume: surveys the intellectual discourse, the attempts to redesign the global institutions, and the geopolitical trends since the end of the Cold War for an understanding of the contemporary geopolitics, analyses the characteristics of the contemporary geopolitics, the seeming intractability of the global challenges, and the ongoing discourse about preventing their further deterioration, foregrounds the Gandhian praxis and IR theory for managing power transitions anchored in non-violent mobilisation of empowered masses, ensuring institutional resilience, and illustrates them through ongoing conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, outlines an approach, based on the Gandhian experience of managing political change, towards conflict, geopolitical uncertainties, and institutional ineffectiveness for securing a better future globally, including South Asia. Accessibly written, this volume will be indispensable for foreign policy experts, government think tanks, and career bureaucrats. It will also be essential for scholars and researchers of international relations, foreign policy, politics, and governance and public policy.




BCIM Economic Cooperation


Book Description

This book examines the strategic and economic logic behind the Bangladesh–China–India–Myanmar (BCIM) Regional Cooperation. According to estimates, BCIM covers approximately 9 percent of the world’s mass and 40 percent of the world’s population spanning across four countries, constituting the confluence of East, Southeast and South Asia. It contributes about 13 percent to world trade but ironically only 5 percent to inter-regional trade. This volume compares the various approaches to cooperation – trade-led vs project-led, geo-political vs geo-strategic, Sino-centric vs India-led. The chapters explore the complex interplay of geo-economics and geo-politics associated with BCIM sub-regional cooperation in general, and the BCIM Economic Corridor (BCIM-EC) in particular. It points to the current challenges that impede globalisation and economic growth, and critically reviews implications for the stakeholders, institutional frameworks and the spatial impact of the Corridor, especially on the underdeveloped regions. The book discusses the geo-political, geo-economic and geo-strategic advantages that will accrue to the member countries once the sub-regional cooperation becomes fully functional. It advocates the adoption of best practices from similar sub-regional groupings across the globe. This book will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of politics and international relations, geo-politics, strategic studies, sub-regional cooperation, South Asian studies, India–China relations, foreign trade and economics, besides those dealing with foreign policy and development cooperation. It will especially benefit policymakers, development agencies and strategic think tanks.




Think Tanks


Book Description

The growth of think tanks—with uniquely Asian characteristics Policy research institutes—better known as think tanks—;are long established and well known in Western countries but have developed only in recent years in much of the rest of the world. Globalization is partly responsible for the new growth in think tanks, since few issues are totally domestic and governments and citizens increasingly understand the need for well-informed policy advice. Think tanks have become especially important in many Asian nations over the past decade, coinciding with their rise to new prominence in international affairs. Asia's major players— the People's Republic of China, India, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Singapore—and more recently countries in Central Asia like Kazakhstan now have major think tanks. These institutions have become the go-to organizations for proposals and policy advice on key economic, security, social and environmental issues. This book by a noted expert in the field traces the growing influence of these policy actors in Asia, places the trend in historical context, and explores how the region's countries have fostered the growth of think tanks with uniquely Asian characteristics.