{"id":1013,"date":"2014-02-17T19:47:10","date_gmt":"2014-02-17T19:47:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/onthinktanks.org\/?p=1013"},"modified":"2016-01-06T17:59:32","modified_gmt":"2016-01-06T17:59:32","slug":"what-do-partisan-think-tanks-seek","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/onthinktanks.org\/articles\/what-do-partisan-think-tanks-seek\/","title":{"rendered":"What do partisan think tanks seek?"},"content":{"rendered":"

[Editor\u2019s note: \u00a0Claudio Jones<\/a>, researcher with the\u00a0Fundaci\u00f3n Rafael Preciado Hern\u00e1ndez<\/a>\u00a0in M\u00e9xico, wrote a\u00a0couple of posts for\u00a0Politics and Ideas<\/a>. In them he argues in favour of a broader and more active role for partisan think tanks. This is an interesting debate. Not many people are willing to stick\u00a0their necks out for partisan think tanks -preferring\u00a0instead to pay more attention to more idealised\u00a0neutral think tanks. I have edited the Politics and Ideas entry to fit a single-post format.]<\/em><\/p>\n

Introduction<\/h2>\n

It is necessary to persevere in understanding both the\u00a0real and potential roles<\/a>\u00a0think tanks might play in today\u2019s world given the idea (albeit challenged by a number of important cases<\/a>) that there is a relationship between the spread of information and the expansion of democracy (namely, more and better policies). Think tanks associated with or serving political parties, which Adolfo Garc\u00e9 terms \u2018internal think tanks\u2019, reflect the challenge that parties face in both new and old democracies. The challenge is not only to attend to politicians and party structures, but also to have a greater impact on the public, which, thanks to new information technologies, is composed of increasingly engaged citizens. [See\u00a0Juan Sheput\u2019s views in this On Think Tanks event in Peru<\/a>.]<\/p>\n

This post looks to investigate the correlation between think tanks, political parties<\/a>, information, and democracy in order to highlight what is intended to be a persuasive argument rather than an empirical truth:<\/p>\n

Organisations that serve a political party can also serve those citizens who are more interested in knowing about policy and participating in the public arena by taking advantage of the debate happening in the media and through social networks. In other words, they can go beyond the boundaries of their parties to reach a wider audience. The new dimension of information and knowledge in democracy \u2013 precisely because political change is so complex \u2013 demands the transformation of internal think tanks. This would mean the opening of these centers beyond the internal arena of political parties by means of more direct contact with the media and with politically-involved individuals through social networking sites.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Differenciating internal think tanks<\/h2>\n

There are many ways to\u00a0define think tanks<\/a>. Throughout Europe, the Americas, and Asia there are think tanks that provide strategic research services to governments, civil organizations, and society in general on specific issues of national and\/or international policy. This is a broad definition of a think tank.<\/p>\n

As\u00a0Tom Medvetz<\/a>\u00a0of the SSRC (Social Science Research Council) observes, think tanks are generally defined in terms\u00a0of their relative autonomy with respect to other groups<\/a>. Therefore there are think tanks that offer their services to political parties, including the legislative communities of parties (for more, review the book on\u00a0Political Parties and Think Tanks in Latin America<\/a>). However, it is worth recognizing that \u2013 in contrast to think tanks in North America and Great Britain \u2013 in continental Europe and other regions of the world, these organizations tend to have direct or organic links to other actors (such as parties) in addition to advising decision makers. That is the case of the difference between The Heritage Foundation or The Brookings Institution (which have to keep their links informal -this is why Heritage is referred to as\u00a0Conservative<\/em>\u00a0and not\u00a0Republican<\/em>; and Brookings as\u00a0Liberal<\/em>) and German foundations such as\u00a0Konrad Adenauer Stiftung<\/a>\u00a0y\u00a0Friedrich Ebert Stiftung<\/a>.<\/p>\n

One cannot ignore the fact that, as the\u00a0ESRC<\/a>\u00a0(Economic and Social Research Council) notes, \u201cpolitical groups\u201d \u2013 actors that influence or define public policies \u2013 include politicians, members of political parties, and experts, but think tanks try to influence the conceptual frameworks that politicians use to produce policies and provide conceptual frameworks about complex institutional reforms to those who have access to citizens so that they may understand the debates between politicians and experts.<\/p>\n

This is the case of the energy reform currently taking place in Mexico, which involves complex structural changes in the oil and electric energy sectors. Internally, party think tanks provide research to the government and legislators, but externally, they help students, academics, and citizens in general understand key concepts and facts in the debate over opening these strategic sectors of the economy to private participation.<\/p>\n

As Medvetz points out, think tanks participate in a specific arena: that of \u201cthe battle for ideas\u201d. That is why it is reasonable to affirm that:<\/p>\n

a think tank should participate, on one hand, in the sphere of academic knowledge and, on the other, in spreading specific ideas to inform and persuade key actors and increasing numbers of citizens, both within and outside of civil society organizations, about the structural changes that will take place in the economy and government institutions.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What challenges do internal think tanks face and how can they connect to a greater audience<\/h3>\n

Is the political role of partisan think tanks \u2013in Latin America\u2019s new democracies<\/a>\u00a0and elsewhere- equivalent to the standard concept of think tanks from the developed world? For one thing, think tanks are usually acknowledged by their primary role in politics: to exert significant influence on salient policy matters. However, I contend that partisan think tanks in new or emerging democracies should approach the larger public of citizens in order to provide them with more meaningful views on politics and policy reforms as much as they seek to provide sound insights to politicians, policy experts and scholars. There are mainly two reasons for putting forward this broader, more active role of partisan think tanks in democracies:<\/p>\n